Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Extant and Fossil Sponges Associated with Hydrothermal Vent and Cold Seep Communities

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Ancient Hydrocarbon Seeps

Part of the book series: Topics in Geobiology ((TGBI,volume 53))

  • 467 Accesses

Abstract

Sponges are well known from recent vents and seeps, but most of them are background organisms that may occur elsewhere. Only a few are proven to be dependent on chemosynthesis. Conversely, sponges are only rarely reported from ancient hydrothermal vent and cold seep deposits. Here we present an overview of present-day sponges reported from such communities, as well as a review of all supposedly vent- and seep-associated fossil sponges reported so far. The most common sponges in the present-day seep and vent communities are Demospongiae, while Hexactinellida are rare. Most of these sponges are considered as “background” fauna with an exception of Cladorhizidae, which may thrive in deep-water hydrothermal vents. The oldest confirmed sponges from ancient seep sites are reported from the Late Jurassic of France and Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary beds in Svalbard. Additionally, we report herein new hexactinellids from Late Cretaceous localities in Japan. The Paleogene and Neogene records of seep sponges are more common but limited mostly to US Pacific Coast. Our review clearly shows that in the fossil record of chemosynthesis-based communities, sponges were equally common and diversified as they are today but were just overlooked.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baco AR, Rowden AA, Levin LA et al (2010) Initial characterisation of cold seep faunal communities on the New Zealand Hikurangi margin. Mar Geol 272(1):251–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertolino M, Oprandi A, Santini C et al (2017) Hydrothermal waters enriched in silica promote the development of a sponge community in North Sulawesi (Indonesia). Eur Zool J 84(1):128–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/11250003.2016.1278475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Botting JP, Muir LA, Li X-F et al (2012) An enigmatic, possibly chemosymbiotic, hexactinellid sponge from the early Cambrian of South China. Acta Palaeontol Pol 58(3):641–649. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.2011.0140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boury-Esnault N, De Vos L (1988) Caulophacus cyanae n. sp., a new hexactinellid sponge from hydrothermal vents. Biogeography of the genus Caulophacus Schulze, 1887. Oceanologica Acta volume spécial 8:51–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowden DA, Rowden AA, Thurber AR et al (2013) Cold seep epifaunal communities on the Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand: composition, succession, and vulnerability to human activities. PLoS One 8(10):e76869. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0076869

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevaldonné P, Pérez T, Crouzet J-M et al (2014) Unexpected records of ‘deep-sea’ carnivorous sponges Asbestopluma hypogea in the shallow NE Atlantic shed light on new conservation issues. Mar Ecol 36(3):475–484. https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.12155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crane K, Hecker B, Golubev V (1991) Hydrothermal vents in Lake Baikal. Nature 350:281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desbruyères D, Alayse-Danet A-M (1994) Deep-sea hydrothermal communities in southwestern Pacific back-arc basins (the North Fiji and Lau basins): composition, microdistribution and food web. Mar Geol 116:227–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fricke H, Giere O, Stetter K et al (1989) Hydrothermal vent communities at the shallow subpolar Mid-Atlantic ridge. Marine Biol 102:425–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaillard C, Rio M, Rolin Y et al (1992) Fossil chemosynthetic communities related to vents or seeps in sedimentary basins: the pseudobioherms of southeastern France compared to other world examples. Palaios 7:451–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gebruk AV, Kuznetsov AI, Namsarev BB et al (1993) The role of bacterial organics in the feeding of deepwater benthic animals in Frolikha Bay (Lake Baikal) under conditions of elevated heat flow. Izvestiya RAN, Seriya Biologicheskaya 6:903–908

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer Ø, Nakrem HA, Little CTS et al (2011) Hydrocarbon seeps from close to the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. Palaeogeog Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol 306:15–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hajdu E, Vacelet J (2002) Family Cladorhizidae Dendy, 1922. In: Hooper JNA, Van Soest RWM (eds) Systema Porifera. A guide to the classification of sponges. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, NY, pp 636–641

    Google Scholar 

  • Hestetun JT, Tompkins-Macdonald G, Rapp HT (2017) A review of carnivorous sponges (Porifera: Cladorhizidae) from the Boreal North Atlantic and Arctic. Zool J Linn Soc 181:1–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hryniewicz K, Hammer Ø, Nakrem HA et al (2012) Microfacies of the Volgian–Ryazanian (Jurassic–Cretaceous) hydrocarbon seep carbonates from Sassenfjorden, central Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Norw J Geol 92:113–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Hryniewicz K, Nakrem HA, Hammer Ø et al (2015) The palaeoecology of the latest Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous hydrocarbon seep carbonates from Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Lethaia 48(3):353–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaim A, Jenkins RG, Hikida Y (2009) Gastropods from Late Cretaceous Omagari and Yasukawa hydrocarbon seep deposits in the Nakagawa area, Hokkaido, Japan. Acta Palaeontol Pol 54(3):463–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly M, Rowden AA (2019) New sponge species from hydrothermal vent and cold seep sites off New Zealand. Zootaxa 4576(3):401–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiel S (2010) An Eldorado for paleontologists: the Cenozoic seeps of western Washington State, USA. In: Kiel S (ed) The vent and seep biota: aspects from microbes to ecosystems, Topics in geobiology, vol 33. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp 433–448

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Koschinsky A, Billings A, Devey C et al (2006) Discovery of new hydrothermal vents on the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (4 S–10 S) during Cruise M68/1. InterRidge News 15:9–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Pansini M, Morri C, Bianchi CN (2000) The sponge community of a subtidal area with hydrothermal vents: Milos Island Aegean Sea. Est Coast Mar Sci 51:627–635. https://doi.org/10.1006/ecss.2000.0674

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peckmann J, Thiel V, Michaelis W et al (1999) Cold seep deposits of Beauvoisin (Oxfordian; southeastern France) and Marmorito (Miocene; northern Italy): microbially induced authigenic carbonates. Int J Earth Sci 88:60–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pronzato R, Manconi R (2019) An overview on the freshwater sponge fauna (Demospongiae: Spongillida) of New Zealand and New Caledonia with new insights into Heterorotula from deep thermal vents of the Lake Taupo. J Nat Hist 53(35/36):2207–2229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pronzato R, Pisera A, Manconi R (2017) Fossil freshwater sponges: taxonomy, geographic distribution, and critical review. Acta Palaeontol Pol 62:467–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigby JK, Goedert JL (1996) Fossil sponges from a localized cold-seep limestone in Oligocene rocks of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. J Paleontol 70:900–908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigby JK, Jenkins DE (1983) The Tertiary sponges Aphrocallistes and Eurete from western Washington and Oregon. Nat Hist Mus LA County Contrib Sci 344:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin-Blum M, Chakkiath P, Antony L et al (2019) Fueled by methane: deep-sea sponges from asphalt seeps gain their nutrition from methane-oxidizing symbionts. ISME J 13:1209–1225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen A, Åström EK, Hong W-L et al (2018) Geophysical and geochemical controls on the megafaunal community of a high Arctic cold seep. Biogeosciences 15:4533–4559. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4533-2018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sitjà C, Maldonado FMC, Rueda JL (2019) Deep-water sponge fauna from the mud volcanoes of the Gulf of Cadiz (North Atlantic, Spain). J Mar Biol Ass UK 99:807–831. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315418000589

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staudigel H, Hart SR, Pile A et al (2006) Vailulu’u Seamount, Samoa: life and death on an active submarine volcano. Proc Natl Acad Sci 103(17):6448–6453. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0600830103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steiner M, Bernd E, Erdtmann D et al (2002) Submarine-hydrothermal exhalative ore layers in black shales from South China and associated fossils—insights into a Lower Cambrian facies and bio-evolution. Palaeogeog Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol 169(3/4):165–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick K, Janussen D, Menshenina L (2017) Cold biosilicification in Metazoan psychrophilic glass sponges. In: Ehrlich H (ed) Extreme biomimetics. Springer, Cham, pp 53–80

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tarasov VG, Gebruk AV, Shulkin VM et al (1999) Effect of shallow-water hydrothermal venting on the biota of Matupi Harbour (Rabaul Caldera, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea). Cont Shelf Res 19:79–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-4343(98)00073-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thurber AR, Kröger K, Neira C et al (2010) Stable isotope signatures and methane use by New Zealand cold seep benthos. Mar Geol 272:260–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2009.06.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vacelet J, Boury-Esnault N (2002) A new species of carnivorous deep-sea sponge (Demospongiae: Cladorhizidae) associated with methanotrophic bacteria. Cah Biol Mar 43:141–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Vacelet J, Kelly MA (2014) New species of Abyssocladia (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida, Cladorhizidae) and other carnivorous sponges from the Far Eastern Solomon Islands. Zootaxa 3815(3):11. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3815.3.4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vacelet J, Segonzac M (2006) Porifera. In: Desbruyères D, Segonzac M, Bright M (eds) Handbook of deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna. Land Oberösterreich, Biologiezentrum der Oberösterreichische Landesmuseen, Linz, pp 35–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Vacelet J, Boury-Esnault N, Fiala-Médoni A et al (1995) A methanotrophic carnivorous sponge. Nature 377:296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Soest RWM, Boury-Esnault N, Vacelet J et al (2012) Global diversity of sponges (Porifera). PLoS One 7(4):e35105. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg I, Glyzina O, Weinberg E et al (2004) Types of interactions in consortia of Baikalian sponges. In: Pansini M, Pronzato R, Bavestrello G et al (eds) Sponge science in the new millennium. Officine Grafiche Canessa Rapallo, Genova, pp 655–663

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank J. Vacelet and N. Boury-Esnault (Marseille) for allowing the use of their photos of Cladorhiza methanophila and M. Kelly (Auckland) for supplying the material of P. thurberi and some macrophotos of this sponge. An anonymous reviewer and D. Janussen are acknowledged for their help to improve this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Science, Warszawa, Poland

    Andrzej Pisera, Krzysztof Hryniewicz, Maria Aleksandra Bitner & Andrzej Kaim

Authors
  1. Andrzej Pisera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Krzysztof Hryniewicz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maria Aleksandra Bitner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andrzej Kaim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrzej Pisera .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland

    Andrzej Kaim

  2. School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    J. Kirk Cochran

  3. Department of Invertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA

    Neil H. Landman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pisera, A., Hryniewicz, K., Bitner, M.A., Kaim, A. (2022). Extant and Fossil Sponges Associated with Hydrothermal Vent and Cold Seep Communities. In: Kaim, A., Cochran, J.K., Landman, N.H. (eds) Ancient Hydrocarbon Seeps. Topics in Geobiology, vol 53. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05623-9_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation