Long-term observations of a sponge in situ reveal a rich repertoire of contractile behaviors, including winter dormancy

Abstract

Sponges are remarkably active animals with a range of behaviors that are broadly termed sneezes. Little is known about what triggers sneezes or how sneezes propagate in an animal that lacks either muscular or nervous systems. We explored the triggers of sponge behavior in situ in the demosponge Suberites concinnus. The placement of this tennis ball-sized sponge at the focal point of a camera array on an instrument platform in Barkley Sound, BC, Canada, provided a unique opportunity for our investigation. The observatory has a suite of environmental sensors measuring parameters such as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), oxygen, turbidity, salinity, pressure, current speed, and temperature. An array of 8 cameras designed for 3D imaging was used to capture hourly images. Our findings revealed both long-term (annual) and short-term (daily) behaviors in S. concinnus. The sponge contracted for 2 mo each winter. In February, it gradually expanded and became very active with short-term full-body contractions each lasting 11 h through the summer. A meta-analysis of contraction behaviors in other species of sponge showed that contraction duration is a factor of sponge size and that all sponges contract faster than they expand. Invertebrates and fish were frequently in contact with the sponge, but no single interaction was found to correlate with patterns of sponge behavior. However, significant correlations between sponge behaviors and chlorophyll and turbidity were found using generalized additive mixed models. Our study underscores the dynamic nature of these sessile filter feeders and their responses to their environment.