Abstract
Cliona lampa Laubenfels (Porifera: Hadromerida), a common burrowing organism in Bermuda, has been used to study the method of sponge penetration into calcareous objects. To progress beyond the results obtained by previous authors, electron-microscope techniques, in addition to light-microscope observations, were employed. Burrowing patterns, fine structure of the tissue-substratum interface and of calcareous fragments removed by sponge activity are described on the basis of scanning electron microscopy. Cell types and cytological features have been identified by light and transmission electron microscope. One cell type of archeocyte origin is demonstrated; it carves out chips of calcium carbonate (and conchiolin) by means of filopodial extensions and etching secretions. The cells undergo plasmolysis during this process; the substratum chips are expelled through the exhalent canal system. It is calculated that only 2 to 3% of the eroded material is removed in solution.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Hamburg
Supported by Smithsonian Research Foundation Fund 426242. Contribution No. 574, Bermuda Biological Station.
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Rützler, K., Rieger, G. Sponge burrowing: Fine structure of Cliona lampa penetrating calcareous substrata. Marine Biology 21, 144–162 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00354611
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00354611