Photosynthetic Bacteria and Carotenoids from a Sea Sponge Halichondrium panicea.

Nitrate release by Caribbean reef sponges1,2

“…No attempts have been made to identify nitrifying bacteria in sponges, hence, their presence can only be suspected. Sponges usually contain many morphologically different bacterial symbionts (Vacelet 1975;Vacelet and Donadey 1977;Wilkinson 1978) and there is the possibility that some are either phototrophic or chemotrophic (Eimhjellen 1967;lmhoff and Truper 1976). Chemoautotrop hit bacteria occur symbiotically in other marine invertebrates (Jannasch 1985).…”

On the ecophysiology of the sponge Halichondria panicea in Kiel Bight. I. Substrate specificity, growth and reproduction

“…As biomass of planktonic algae in Kiel Bight usually rises slightly during the summer (Smetacek et al 1984), and sponges can also digest bacteria very effectively (Pourbaix 1931, Rasmont 1963, Madri et al 1967, lack of nutrition can probably be ruled out. Addtionally, H. panicea very likely profits from symbiotic algae present in the sponge tissue (Eimhjellen 1967, Christensen 1985. Muscatine et al (1967) showed that algae symbiotic with a ciliate, a sponge and a hydra excreted up to 86.7 % of their total photosynthate as maltose or glucose, while related free-living strains liberated much smaller amounts (up to 7.6 % ) and most of it as glycolic acid, none as maltose or glucose.…”

Marine sponges as habitats of anaerobic phototrophic bacteria

“…This difference may be explained by the fact that a number of sponges produce antibiotically active substances. Burkholder and R~]tzler [4] showed that Verongia aerophoba, Crambe crambe, Aplysilla sulfurea, and other sponges from the Mediterranean Sea contain substances that inhibit the growth of gram- Halichrondria panicea, however, the species from which Eimhjellen [10] isolated phototrophic bacteria, produces antibiotics [14]. These authors were able to prove that the antibiotic substances did not act upon those microorganisms that live in a specific commensal association with the respective sponge.…”

“…From the work of Eimhjellen [10] and the results reported above it becomes evident that at least part of the marine sponges regularly contain anaerobic phototrophic bacteria. This is rather surprising, because marine sponges live in the oxic parts of the oceans and are known to be sensitive to oxygen deficiencies [ 14].…”

“…A quite different habitat of phototrophic bacteria was first mentioned by Eimhjellen [10]. He set out to find phototrophic bacteria in the marine sponge Halichondria panicea.…”