This weekend we found a sort of sponge raft drifting along the bottom of the pond. Composed of Gracilaria and the orange sponge Mycale sp., the piece was weighed down with sediment and tiny organisms living inside. The contents included two brittle stars, several polychaete worms, a few amphipods, and some mysterious organism (pictured below). Whether the sponge originally settled on Gracilaria or grew separately and managed to incorporate a few branches, these two species have the ability to get together and host organisms... lots of them.
The picture doesn't show them in great detail, but if you know what those little gelatinous white things are, please comment.
Send me some high res photos!
ReplyDeletedid you find out what these are? tell me! if not send me pics too... my default on small gelatinous things is tunicates... but i can't tell...
ReplyDeletejpuritz guesses that they might be "small deflated individuals of Ciona intestinalis." Ciona is known to be invasive and has invaded Oahu before. Here's the link he sent me:
ReplyDeletehttp://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1284