Sponge on my macro?
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Subsea
5000 Club Member
I don’t see a sponge. Looks like Gracilaria Hayi with some leaves going sexual. A little history would be helpful. Why do you think it is a sponge? Where did it come from?I'm only seeing this white stuff on this one clump of macroalgae. Is it just a sponge?
@goody
PS: Is the white crusty or spongy. If it’s crusty it may be calcium scale.
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goody
Well-Known Member
Ordered it from the FS thread here. Came in clean, not signs of this white stuff, and it has grown nicely in my refugium. I now have a few larger size clumps, and this is the only piece showing this white stuff, and aside from it, the piece continues to grow, but so are the white parts. I scraped a little off and it's not crusty. Took some clearer photos with flow off.
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Subsea
5000 Club Member
I have no idea. However, biofilms on seaweed have complex communities.
Seaweeds, or marine macroalgae, can have complex microbial communities on their surfaces that form biofilm-like epimicrobiomes. “This "second skin" can serve as a micro-niche for ecological interactions that are chemically mediated. The biofilm community can influence the host life of the seaweed and other nearby eukaryotes. For example, coralline algae biofilm communities have been observed to affect the settlement of sea urchin larvae, and Mytillus edulis larval settlement can be affected by signals produced by the biofilm that attract or repel mussels. “
Seaweeds, or marine macroalgae, can have complex microbial communities on their surfaces that form biofilm-like epimicrobiomes. “This "second skin" can serve as a micro-niche for ecological interactions that are chemically mediated. The biofilm community can influence the host life of the seaweed and other nearby eukaryotes. For example, coralline algae biofilm communities have been observed to affect the settlement of sea urchin larvae, and Mytillus edulis larval settlement can be affected by signals produced by the biofilm that attract or repel mussels. “
Subsea
5000 Club Member
This is the link that I was looking for
Seaweed–microbial interactions: key functions of seaweed-associated bacteria
We have introduced a new topic in this area and suggested future research to understand seaweed-bacteria interactions in greater detail.
academic.oup.com
Introduction
The seaweed surface provides a suitable substratum for the settlement of microorgansims and also secretes various organic substances that function as nutrients for multiplication of bacteria and the formation of microbial biofilms (Steinberg et al., 2002; Staufenberger et al., 2008; Singh, 2013). Microbial communities living on the seaweed surface are highly complex, dynamic and consist of a consortium of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, diatoms, protozoa, spores and larvae of marine invertebrates (Lachnit et al., 2009, 2011; Goecke et al., 2010; Burke et al., 2011a, b). Among them, bacteria are ubiquitous and occur either on the seaweed surface or in the cytosol of living host cells (Herbaspirillum sp. in Caulerpa taxifolia) and determine different stages of the life cycle of eukaryotic organisms including macroalgae (Delbridge et al., 2004; Burke et al., 2011a; Singh et al., 2011a, b, c). Quorum sensing (QS) signalling molecules produced by Gram-negative bacterial strains determine zoospores settlement in Ulva species (Joint et al., 2002) and spores liberation in Acrochaetium (Weinberger et al., 2007) and Gracilaria species (Singh, 2013). Thallusin, a bacterial metabolite, and nitrogen-fixing bacteria associated with seaweeds have also been found to be responsible for induction of morphogenesis and growth in marine macroalgae, respectively (Chisholm et al., 1996; Matsuo et al., 2005; Singh et al., 2011b). Macroalgae
