Catalog Number:
32336
Object/Specimen Description:

Found at high tide line.

Specimen Count:
1
Collector:
H. Lisy
Locality:
US Southeast (NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN, KY)
Collecting Date:
4-Nov
Collecting Locality:
North America, United States, Florida
Upper Level Taxonomy:
Animalia, Porifera, Demospongiae, Keratosa, Dictyoceratida, Ircinidae

Dictyoceratid sponges do not have the usual mineral spicules (rod-like structures that make up many sponge skeletons). Instead they are made entirely of elastic spongin (protein) fibers organized into networks. This makes their bodies tough and flexible. They are easy to squish, but hard to tear. The surface of their body is typically raised up in little cone-shaped points, making it look like they have goosebumps. The bumps are actually projections from the underlying skeletal fibers, and in some species the bumps are expanded into an armor-like covering. Dictyoceratids have the habit of incorporating debris (such as sand grains or spicules shed by other sponges) into their skeletons, making them harder.

Sponges have an internal skeleton, but it is not made of bone like ours. Their skeletons are made of stiff, mineral rods called spicules, or a matrix of strong but flexible protein called spongin, or both. Spicules may be loosely scattered in the body tissue of a sponge, gathered into little bundles, or arranged in symmetrical patterns to form a structured skeleton. You can judge a sponge by its spicules. They come in many shapes, from as simple as toothpick-straight to complex, branching stars. The end of each spicule is specialized too; it may be pointed, flat, shovel-like, or even look like a mushroom cap. By using microscopes to look at spicules (which are tiny), scientists are often able to identify the type of sponge they came from. Given that the spicules are often all that remain of a dead sponge, this is quite handy.