UNCW researcher finds sponge that 'eats' toxic compounds

[Judi Lynn]

A baby giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta) pumps fluorescein dye in a glass jar. Photo: Joseph Pawlik

May 22, 2021 by Coastal Review Online Leave a Comment

By Trista Talton, Coastal Review, 05/19/2021

Beneath the clear, turquoise waters off the shores of Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, sponges and seaweed have taken up residence where coral once flourished.

The sponges that cover reef there — part of the Meso-American Barrier Reef — pump massive amounts of seawater, are a food source for various reef fish, and, as one doctorate student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington has discovered, certain species of sponge absorb toxic chemical compounds.

Lauren Olinger has spent more than two years researching several species of the most common sponges in the Caribbean that now thrive on the reef.

What she has discovered is that sponges with an abundance of microbes, or tiny living things too small to be seen by the unaided eye, “take up” significant amounts of compounds versus sponges that have a low abundance of microbes.

More:
https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2021/05/22/uncw-researcher-finds-sponge-that-eats-toxic-compounds/

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