The Time of the Sponge

The practical use of this coelenterate dates back to ancient times. Sponge represents at present a much requested item in the international trade for its high quality

The sponges or poriferans (phylum: Porifera) are one of the sea organisms living in tropical regions of the world that arouse great interest from the commercial point of view.

Porifera name, meaning “pore bearer”makesreference to the countless pores that exist in the body wall of the sponges, they are asymmetrical without true tissues.

Those spongesfrom the Mediterranean, Red, and Caribbean Seas and the coasts of Mexico, are the most valuable for marketing because of their natural conditions.

These inhabitants of the animal kingdom have a permeable plastic mass. They have a long tradition of benefits for men, and they are included in the wildlife that inhabits the waters near Cuba, which makes them important items for exportation.

A Little of History

Sponges are the only representatives of the phylum Porifera, and they are extremely old. It’s estimated that their presence on Earth dates back some 600 million years ago, long before other animal groups, like mammals.

Until the second half of the Eighteenth Century it was unknown whether these denizens of the waters belonged to the flora or fauna.

Perhaps, they are the strangest animals in the world. During years, sponges were considered as aquatic plants with very particular characteristics because of the apparent immobility and form.

This mistake was later rectified by zoologists, who found in these creatures very own peculiarities of the animal kingdom, which were away from the essential characteristics of plants.

This has caused that sometimes the sponge isn’t treated as an individual animal, but as a cell colony or lineage which is constantly surprising science with new discoveries.

The use of the sponge for utilitarian purposes in everyday life dates back to ancient times as it’s attested byseveral writings by the Greek Philosopher Aristotle.

In one of his manuscripts, Aristotle concerns the use of this species in the grooming and the cushioning or padding of helmets and armor of war.

Lifestyle

There are more than 180 species of spongesin the world. The most numerous are those of sea life in the tropics; but there are also varieties in adjacent environments, like lakes, canals and mangrove roots.

Sponges are important members of the coral reef ecosystems and they filter water, contributingto nutrient cycling, and providing home to many organisms.

They live fixed to the substrate, which are sedentary or sessile.

They can be identified by multiple forms and varieties. There are tubular, globular, lobed, made up of glass and even so flat that resemble carpets of extraordinary sizes. Their colors can be very diverse and intense. Thus, they are granted the seabed much of beauty and color.

Their size ranges from few millimeters to over 200 centimeters. They are about three or four meters below water level, although there are some genres that can be found at any depth or temperature, sponges are among the beings most widely distributed on the planet.

Curiosities

One of the most attractive features of the sponges is their completely lacking of organs, they have no specialized tissues, and they are the only animals without the nervous system.

They are a group of cells acting with a relative coordination and are totipotent, in other words, they can be transformed into any other cell types as needed by the animal.

Having no mouth or digestive tract, poriferansare limited to filter the water and capture small particles that serve food, which once inside are engulfed by cells that digest them inside.

Some sponges are capable of producing toxins that are among the most powerful toxins of nature.

These aquatic creatures are very long-lived and some have been identified having hundreds and even thousands of years.

One of the best known cases is the skeleton of a copy of the Monorhaphischuni sponge which was found in 1986 about one thousand 100 meters deep in the East China Sea.

The analysis of this spear-shaped support, having 270 centimeters long and 11 millimeters in diameter, allowed to know that this sponge lived approximately 11,000 years, and it’s s one of the most elderly animals ever reported.
Thanks to this skeleton, a group of German scientists were able to obtain valuable climate record of the sea during the thousands of years that sponge havelived, since the characteristics of the skeleton and its growth pattern can be used as tree rings to identify climate changes.

Thus, researchers have noted that the temperature of the deep ocean has changed many times over the past millennia, among other amazing results.

Sponges are amazing animals; they are also used as bio-indicators of water quality.

Commercial exploitation

The main places in Cuba for the extraction of this kind of poriferans are located to the Southof Batabanó, and in Caibarien, in the north, with an abundant presence of sponges of high quality, in the insular platform.

Extraction techniques are diving, with the help of a squiggle, ahooked-end instrument widely used by fishermen.

After collecting the sponges, the decomposition of the living tissueis allowed. Later, the skeleton is washed, and then a selection process taking into account their quality, isunderwent.

As sponges are one of the oldest fossils of fauna, their extinct by over-exploitation is very difficult, because when they are cut, and a stem is left, which is capable of regenerating another copy, which guarantees the reproductive cycle under natural conditions.

However, the ability to survival is threatened by the deterioration of coral reefs and the degradation of the seabed, associated with climate change.

In addition, the use of inappropriate fishing methods such as trawling, are involved in the care and conservation of the colonies.

These drawbacks make sponges one of the animals of theaquatic life we must protect, to continue its longtime history in the service of man.

In spite of the attempts to replace these nautical individuals for other synthetic products; the softness, durability and strength of the natural spongy mass is maintained in the preference.

The passage of time does not decline the time of the sponges, because their lordship continues growing in the popular taste for uses ranging from toiletries and personal and collective hygiene to lithography, tanning and surgery.

Likewise, science has found in these organisms different compounds to make preparations useful in diseases like cancer or tumors. This fact turns these species intoa very interesting area for researching worldwide.