Sponge Collection

Sponge collection

One of the aspects of our project is to determine what the “background” organisms are so we can assess how different the microbial communities are on our traps.  Laurie has been looking at the fungal communities associated with marine sponges- part of the group of animals we find near our trap at the Cape Evan’s wall.

Here is a picture of Hubert with one of the Volcano sponges near McMurdo Station.  This is the kind of sponge that I was looking for on this collection day. 

Photo of Hubert and sponge taken by Steve Rupp.

 

We have seen Hubert diving in McMurdo Sound before but it is worth posting again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr7TJSSh8Ec).    In the video you can see lots of sponges, this is before they begin their journey up onto the surface of the ice.

We collected both live and now also some sponges that have been long dead- in fact dead hundreds of years.  They were brought to the bottom of the Ross Ice Shelf as part of anchor ice and slowly ablated through the ice to emerge on the surface.  Today we flew out to an area that these sponges can be found called “the Dirty Ice” It is near Bratina Island, a small island at the tip of the Brown Peninsula.  The reason it’s called the dirty is because, well….., it’s covered with dirt.

Taken by Laurie Connell  (77  58.96’ S  165  36.654 E)  Sponges on dirty ice in Antarctica.

Taken by Laurie Connell  (77  58.96’ S  165  36.654 E)  Sponges on dirty ice in Antarctica.

 

After we get home we will culture fungi from these sponges to determine what species can be found.  We will also determine genetically which species are there.   Stay tuned for results in a few months!