Meat-eating sponge dines 2 miles below ocean's surface

OurAmazingPlanet ^ | updated 11/9/2012 12:06:26 PM ET | By Becky Oskin

[BenLurkin]

A new carnivore shaped like a candelabra has been spotted in deep ocean waters off California's Monterey Bay.

The meat-eating species was dubbed the "harp sponge," so-called because its structure resembles a harp or lyre turned on its side.

A team from the Monterey Bay Research Aquarium Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., discovered the sponge in 2000 while exploring with a remotely operated vehicle. The sponges live nearly 2 miles (3.5 kilometers) beneath the ocean's surface.

"We were just amazed. No one had ever seen this animal with their own eyes before," said Lonny Lundsten, an invertebrate biologist at the research institute and one of the first to see the harp sponge. [ The World's Freakiest Looking Animals ]

Researchers later collected two sponges and made video observations of 10 more. Comparison with other carnivorous sponges confirmed that Chondrocladia lyra, the sponge's scientific name, was a new species and revealed some interesting insights into the sponge's life cycle. The results of the analysis were published Oct. 18 in the journal Invertebrate Biology.

[BenLurkin]

I visualize this kind of thing as being what people will have to deal with, if ever they colonize distant star systems.

[BenLurkin]

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Velcro-like barbed hooks cover the sponge's branching limbs, snaring crustaceans as they are swept into its branches by deep-sea currents. Once the harp sponge has its meal, it envelops the animal in a thin membrane, and then slowly begins to digest its prey.

[bigheadfred]

Meat-eating sponge dines 2 miles below ocean's surface

So I'm torn. Now that I'm seriously underwater.

[Hot Tabasco]

Meat-eating sponge dines

Had I stopped reading there, I would have thought this was an article about my brother-in-law.......

[stillonaroll]

Looks like the 47% to me.

[shibumi]

[cripplecreek]

LOL that was exactly the same thing I thought.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Amazing! Quite lovely.

[PoloSec]

Me Too!

[CrazyIvan]

Looks like a tiara to me.

[Hugin]

A team from the Monterey Bay Research Aquarium Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., discovered the sponge in 2000 while exploring bwith a remotely operated vehicle..."We were just amazed. No one had ever seen this animal with their own eyes before," said Lonny Lundsten, an invertebrate biologist at the research institute and one of the first to see the harp sponge.

Umm...they still haven't.

[SpaceBar]

A story about carnivorous colonial invertebrates on this forum seems strangely appropriate.

[Arthur McGowan]

How does an Obama voter get two miles down in the ocean?

[Homer_J_Simpson]

How does an Obama voter get two miles down in the ocean?

1. Fill galvanized steel tub with concrete mix.
2. Add water.
3. Insert Obama voter.
4. Set aside and allow to dry (2-3 hrs.)
5. Drop entire assembly into water 2 miles deep.

[Arthur McGowan]

Works for me.

[Noumenon]

Quickrete is faster. About 45 minutes.

[ApplegateRanch]

Two concrete blocks; roll of duct tape.