Group items tagged

A group of female dolphins has been learning from their mothers to use sponges to help catch fish for at least 180 years, a UNSW study has found.

Ranging from goblin spiders to glow-in-the-dark sharks, spanning six continents and three oceans, these discoveries add to the family tree of life on Earth.

JULY 31, 2012 - GEORGETOWN RESEARCHERS HAVE DISCOVERED that bottlenose dolphins are the only mammals besides humans to associate with one another based on cultural behavior with tools.

Chemists from the Institute of Research in Biomedicine (IRB) and from the R+D department of PharmaMar have devised a new synthesis method with pipecolidepsin A, a compound that is active against eleven types of cancers and property of PharmaMar. This advance opens the door to copying and improving 38 natural molecules derived from marine sponges that are very promising for the treatment of various diseases.

Sea sponge study sheds light on coral reefs.

Humpback dolphins offer gifts in rare courtship ritual - video.

'Tis the holiday season and it seems homes are festively trimmed at every turn. Ornaments of all shapes and sizes embellish everything from trees to windows and yards.

Marine sponges are set to become more abundant in many near-future oligotrophic environments, where they play crucial roles in nutrient cycling. Of high importance is their mass turnover of dissolved organic matter (DOM), a heterogeneous mixture that constitutes the largest fraction of organic matter in the ocean and is recycled primarily by bacterial mediation. Little is known, however, about the mechanism that enables sponges to incorporate large quantities of DOM in their nutrition, unlike most other invertebrates. Here, we examine the cellular capacity for direct processing of DOM, and the fate of the processed matter, inside a dinoflagellate-hosting bioeroding sponge that is prominent on Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Integrating transmission electron microscopy with nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry, we track 15N- and 13C-enriched DOM over time at the individual cell level of an intact sponge holobiont. We show initial high enrichment in the filter-feeding cells of the sponge, providing visual evidence of their capacity to process DOM through pinocytosis without mediation of resident bacteria. Subsequent enrichment of the endosymbiotic dinoflagellates also suggests sharing of host nitrogenous wastes. Our results shed light on the physiological mechanism behind the ecologically important ability of sponges to cycle DOM via the recently described sponge loop.