BBSR
Marine Invertebrates of Bermuda

Stinker Sponge (Ircinia felix)

By Adam Pimenta
Dr. James B. Wood and Kim Zeeh - Editors


Abstract  Taxonomy  Habitat  Ecology  Recent Research  Commercial Importance  Bermuda Laws  Personal Interest  References  Links 


Stinker Sponge Ircinia felix



Abstract


Ircinia felix is one of the most common sponges in Bermuda. When this sponge is taken out of the water it has an unpleasant odor which gave Ircinia its common name of stinker sponge. In Bermuda this sponge is not found deeper than 5 meters, this may be due to the fact that it harbors a symbiotic photosynthetic bacteria. Ircinia felix is a grayish or brown sponge that grows up to 25 cm tall. In Bermuda Ircinia felix displays three different body forms, Forma felix is crustose with raised oscula, forma fistularis has simple erect hollow branches and terminal oscula while forma acuta is conical or massive, with elevated oscula (Sterrer 1986). Organic extracts found in Ircinia felix tissues have been shown to deter predation by a wide variety of reef fishes and crustaceans (Pawlik et al. 2002). Compounds extracted from the genus Ircinia have shown a wide range of biological activity including antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activity (Rifai et al. 2005). This paper describes general characteristics of this species, as well as examining its ecology, commercial uses, recent research done on the species and Bermudian laws pertaining to it.

Taxononmy


Phylum: Porifera
  Class: Demospongea
    Order: Keratosa
      Family: Spongiidae

Phylum Porifera is made up of the sponges, which are the simplest of the metazoans (multi-celled animals). Sponges are found in nearly all marine habitats and some freshwater habitats. Phylum Porifera is characterized by a lack of true tissues, and body symmetry, however sponges have many cell types unique to this phylum. Order Keratosa is characterized by the presence of spongin fibers rather than calcium carbonate or silacias spicules. Family Spongiidae is characterized by having a skeleton composed of interwoven fibers, fairly homogenous in cross section, the incorporation of sand grains and other foreign material is common in this family (Parker 1982). Ircinia felix is a grayish or brown sponge that grows up to 25 cm tall (Sterrer 1986). I. felix has oscules 3-6 mm in diameter, often at the top of the lobes, the sponge surface is conulose, with connules 0.5 to 2 mm high and 3 mm apart (Maldonado and Young 1998). When this sponge is taken out of the water it has an unpleasant odor which gave Ircinia its common name of stinker sponge

Habitat


Ircinia felix is a common sponge in Bermuda. It can typically be found on protected sediment and rock bottoms in the inshore and coastal waters of Bermuda. This species is also seen to a lesser degree on coral reefs surrounding the Island. Ircinia felix is typically found between .5 and 5 meters deep (Sterrer 1986). The geographic distribution of this sponge is in the warm waters of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and the Western Atlantic to Virginia (Gleason et al. 2005) including Bermuda.



Ecology


General Characteristics

Species in the phylum Porifera are benthic, sessile animals that are attached to rocks, sand bottoms and coral reefs. All sponges are asymmetrical animals that can aptly be described as a mass of cells. Poriferans have no true tissues, systems, body cavities or even communication between cells. Their body wall structure consists of a pinacoderm: which is an epithelial like layer, a choanoderm: making up the choanocyte chambers, and the mesohyl: a gelatinous, non-living layer that contains structural components (spongin, spicules). Despite these limitations sponges have developed many ingenious cell types unique to them. Choanocytes are flagellated cells that generate water flow and are also used for food and sperm capture. Archeocytes are amoeba like cells that perform food digestion, reproduction, waste removal and make the sponge structure (spongin, spicules). Amazingly, these cells are totipotent, meaning that they can develop into any other cell type. Pinacocytes are cells that make up the surface layer; the pinacoderm and porocytes are the cells that make up the ostia (MIZ lecture Fall 2005).

Ircinia felix has a body covered with thousands of these ostia, these are the intakes for seawater. At the top of the sponge body there is one to several osculem, which are the excurrent channels for the water moving trough the sponge. In Bermuda Ircinia felix displays three different body forms Forma felix is crustose with raised oscula, forma fistularis has simple erect hollow branches and terminal oscula while forma acuta is conical or massive, with elevated oscula (Sterrer 1986).

Nutrition:

Ircinia felix is a filter feeder, like all sponges, it uses flagellated choanocytes to create a water current through the animal. Sponges are active suspension feeders that generally feed on bacteria and picoplankton in the water column. An in situ study found that Ircinia felix significantly decreased cell concentration of heterotrophic bacteria and Synechococcus type cyanobacteria while not statistically affecting Prochlorococcus, picoeukaryotes or nanoeukaryotes (Pile 1996). The seawater enters the interior of the sponge through thousands of small ostia distributed over its surface. As the water passes through the choanocyte lined canals and larger choanocyte chambers food particles come into contact with the cilia of the choanocytes. In order to capture this food sponges use collar sieving, “Collar sieving is restricted to sponges in which the basic element for both pumping and filtering is the choanocyte cell with a flagellum that pumps water through a collar of microvilli acting as a sieve” (Riisgard and Larsen 2001). Ircinia felix also uses morphology to help drive the water gradient in its body. Oscula are either raised or located on the tops of lobes, being higher off the substrate means that these excurrent oscula are exposed to a faster water flow while the incurrent ostia are in a slower water flow. This is an application of Bernouli’s principle that passively pulls water through the sponge.

Ircinia felix is a host for photosynthetic cyanobacteria which provides valuable nutrition to the sponge. The photosynthetic cyanobacteria in Ircinia felix functions in the same way that zooxanthellae do in corals. Through the process of photosynthesis the bacteria provide the sponge with energy in the form of carbon compounds. “The biomass of photosynthetic bacteria can nearly equal that of sponge cells, with up to 50% of the sponges energy budget and 80% of the sponges carbon budget derived from photosynthesis (Thacker 2005). Other possible benefits provided by the symbiotic bacteria include nitrogen fixation, lower carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios among sponges in the genus Ircinia provide evidence of newly fixed nitrogen (Weisz et al. 1985). It has been said that the main symbiotic cyanobacteria in Ircinia spp. is Synechococcus spongarium (Usher et al. 2004) or Aphanocapsa feldmani (Maldonado and Young 1998). It has not been shown specifically what percentage of carbon is translocated from the bacteria to Ircinia felix but the photosynthate provided by the bacteria could be why Ircinia felix is not found below five meters in Bermuda (sterrer 1986). Below five meters light levels may be too low to allow the bacteria to transferenough photosynthetic material to the animal to be energetically favorable.

Reproduction

Ircinia felix can reproduce both asexually and sexually. Asexual reproduction is accomplished by fragmentation. Fragmentation can result from physical damage (waves and storms) or from predation. The totipotent cells of sponges are able to change into sructures needed by the sponge. After fragmentation pieces of the sponge will attach to the substrate and reorganize into a working sponge. It has even been shown in experiments that a sponge can be seperated into individual cells or groups of cells and after a period of time grow and turn into a fully functional sponge (Rurert et al. 2004). Ircinia felix also reproduce sexually, Ircinia spp. are hermaphroditic but either produce male or female gametes when spawning. Ircinia felix, like all sponges do not have sex organs. Sperm arises from choanocytes located in the mesohyle and eggs are developed by archeocytes in the mesohyl (Rupert et al. 2004). Ircinia spp. display year round development of spermatic cysts (Hoppe 1988). Sperm released by those sponges acting as males is caught by choanocytes of those species acting as females. These choanocytes then differentiate into amoeboid form and transport sperm to the mesohyl where the eggs are fertilized. With Ircinia spp. production of oocytes and larvae were only seen eight months out of the year (Hoppe 1988). Ircinia spp. are brooding sponges (Hoppe 1988) and after a period of time a parenchymula larvae with a ciliate anterior portion (Sterrer 1986) are released to settle and form a new individual.

Predator Defense

Marine sponges produce many secondary metabolites through normal physiological processes, these secondary metabolites have been shown to provide the sponge with predator deterrence (Burns et al. 2003). Organic extracts taken from Ircinia felix tissues and incorporated into food pellets deterred feeding of the generalist reef predator, blue headed wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) in aquaria experiments as well as a general assemblage of reef fishes in field experiments (Pawlik et al. 2002). These secondary metabolites produced by Ircinia felix are furanosesterterpene tetronic acids (FTAs) and not the foul-smelling volatile metabolites Ircinia are known for. Among Ircinia species, concentrations of FTAs are greatest in Ircinia felix (Pawlik et al. 2002). However the presence of these FTA’s does not deter predation by spongiverous species such as tilefish, the queen angelfish and some seastars.



Recent Research


Much of the recent research on Ircinia felix has been from a molecular approach. There is much research being devoted to compounds produced by this sponge for defense against predation as well as possible antimicrobial and antiviral applications for the pharmaceutical industry. Kelly et al. (2003) studied extracts from several Caribbean sponges in order to determine their effects on bacterial attachment. When an agar block was treated with organic extracts from Ircinia felix bacterial attachment was roughly 20% when compared to the control (untreated) block.

Duque et al. (2001) extracted low molecular weight compounds from Ircinia felix through dynamic headspace extraction and analyzed these constituents using an odor sniffing port. They identified the volatiles responsible for the toxic smell emitted by the sponge. Some of these same compounds were found to be antimicrobial. When the researchers intentionally injured the sponge the concentrations of these particular anti-bacterial chemicals increased. The researchers concluded that these compounds may form chemical protective barrier which help these sponges avoid fouling, compete for space, prevent infection in the short term and/or signal to predators that the sponge is toxic.

Neves and Omena (2002) examined Ircinia felix from a different ecological perspective. They were studying the relationship between the morphology of sponges and how this related to the different polychaete worms living in the sponges. This study was undertaken at Las Rocas, the only known South Atlantic atoll. These researchers found that Ircinia felix had high infestation rates of the motile carnivorous polychaete, Haplosyllis spongicola. Haplosyllis spongicola has a beneficial relationship with Ircinia felix by consuming other invertebrates that may infest the sponge. For example many filter feeding species reside at sponge openings where they benefit by capturing food with the help of the water current generated by the sponge, this of course leaves less suspended food particles for the sponge, there are also small shrimp that live inside sponges and feed on sponge cells. The relationship with Ircinia felix benefits the polychaete by providing shelter as well as an enhanced food supply.




Commercial Importance


Sponges of the genus Ircinia are being studied by the medical and pharmaceutical industries for possible applications. Organic extracts taken from “tissues” of Ircinia felix have shown a variety potential uses, “furanosesterterpenes have been shown to possess a wide range of biological activity including antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activity” (Rifai et al. 2005). Volatile compounds extracted from Irciana felix have been shown to exhibit antimicrobial activity in laboratory assys (Pawlik et al. 2001). Maybe most promising is an organic compound extracted from an Ircinia species which “has been shown to be a general inhibitor of retrovial reverse transcriptases (from HIV-1, HIV-2 and murine leukemia virus) (Loya et al. 1997). Secondary metabolites produced by Ircinia species for their own defense have shown a lot of promise for a variety of viruses and bacteria’s that sicken or kill millions of people each year. As researchers find more efficient ways of extracting these compounds sponge derived medication or treatments could become very important to humans.



Bermuda Laws


The Coral Reef Preserve Act proects Ircinia felix and other attached marine life on the Bermuda platform.



Personal Interest


I am interested in sponges because they play an extremely important ecological role in the benthic habitat and water column by removing phytoplankton and bacteria. Sponges are found in such diverse habitats as the Antarctic, the Mediterranean, tropical coral-reefs and the gulf of Maine (Witman and Sebens 1985). They are the simplest of the metazoans and have not developed many of the characteristics that define animals. In spite of this they play an extraordinary role in their habitats through their high rates of filtering. In particular I am interested in Ircinia felix because it has a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacterium (Maldonado and Young 1998). I am interested in how this symbiotic relationship affects the feeding rates and energy dependent processes of the sponge. I am using Ircinia felix in a shading experiment investigate the role of this symbiotic relationship in the sponges physiology. Through this experiment I hope to determine if less photosynthetic output by the cyanobacteria translates into a higher feeding rate and flow speed by the sponge.



References

Burns, E., Ifrach, I., Carmell, S., Pawlik, J.R., Ilan, M. (2003). Comprisons of anti-predatory defenses of Red Sea and Caribbean sponges. I. chemical defense. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 252:105-114

Duque, C., Bonilla, A., Bautista, E., Zea, S. (2001). Exudation of low molecular weight compounds (Thiobismethane, methyl isocyanide, and methyl isothiocyanate) as a possible chemical defense mechanism in the marine sponge Ircinia felix. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 29(5):459-467.

Gleason, D.F., Harvey, A.W., Vives, S.P. (www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu/GR-inverts)

Hoppe, W.F. (1988). Reproductive patterns in three species of large coral reef sponges. Coral Reefs. 7:45-50.

Kelly, S.R., Jensen, P.R., Henkel, T.P., Fenical, W., Pawlik, J.R. (2003). Effects of Caribbean sponge extracts on bacterial attachment. Aquatic Microbial Microbiology. 31:175-182.

Loya, S., Rudi, A., Kashman, Y., Hizi, A. (1997). Mode of inhibition of HIV reverse transcriptase by 2-hexaprenylhydroquinone, a novel general inhibitor of RNA and DNA-directed DNA polymerases. Biochem J. 324:721-727.

Maldonado, M. and Young, C.M. (1998). Limits on the bathymetric distribution of keratose sponges: a field test in deep water. Mar. Ecol. Prog Ser. 174:123-139.

Neves, G. and Omena, E. (2002). Influence of sponge morphology on the composition of the polychaete associated fauna from Rocas Atoll, northeast Brazil. Coral Reefs 22(2):123-129.

Parker, S.P. (1982). Synopsis and classification of living organisms. McGraw Hill. New York. 1:1166pp.

Pawlik, J.R., McFall, G., Zea, S. (2002). Does the odor from sponges of the genus Ircinia protect them from fish predators. Jour. Chem. Ecol. 28(6):1103-1115.

Pile, A.J. (1996). Finding Reiswig’s missing carbon: Quantification of sponge feeding using dual-beam flow cytometry. Proc. 8th Int. Coral Reef Sym. 2:1403-1410. 1997.

Rifai, S., Fassouane, A., Pinho, P.M., Kijjoa, A., Nazareth, N., Nascimento, J., Herz, W. (2005). Cytotoxicity and inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation of fasciculatin, a linear furanosesterterpene isolated from Ircinia variabilis collected from the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Mar. Drugs 3:15-21.

Riisgard, H.U. and Larsen, P.S. (2001). Minireview: Ciliary filter feeding and bio-fluid mechanics- present understanding and unresolved problems. Limnol. Oceano. 46(4):882-891.

Rupert, E.E.; Fox, R.S; Barnes, R.D. 2004. Invertebrate Zoology. Seventh Edition.

Sterrer, Wolfgang. ed. 1986. Marine Fauna and Flora of Bermuda: A Systematic Guide to Identification of Marine Organisms. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Thacker, R.T. (2005). Impacts of shading on sponge-cyanobacteria symbioses: a comparison between host-specific and generalist associations. Integr. Comp. Biol. 45:369-376. Sterrer, Wolfgang., ed. Marine Fauna and Flora of Bermuda: A Systematic Guide to the Identification of Marine Organisms. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1986.

Thacker, R.T. (2005). Impacts of shading on sponge-cyanobacteria symbioses: a comparison between host-specific and generalist associations. Integr. Comp. Biol. 45:369-376.

Usher, K.M., Fromont, J., Sutton, D.C., Toze, S. (2004). The biogeography and phylogeny of unicellular cyanobacterial symbionts in sponges from Australia and the Mediterranean. Microbial Ecology. 48(2):167-177.

Weisz, J.B., Southwell, M., Martens, C.M., Lindquist, N. (1985). http://bem.disl.org/tests/MolecularAbs.pdf

Witman, J.D. and Sebens, K.P. (1985). Distribution and ecology of sponges at a subtidal rock ledge in the central Gulf of Maine. 3rd Int. Sponge. Conf. 1985.



Links

UCB Porifera Database
More Sponge Information