Loading ...There was a great article posted at the Physorg.com News about sponges, and their ability to recycle organic carbon. But is it not how the sponges were eating this organic carbon that was fascinating, it was their ability to recycle it into their own cells. Because sponges have a very high rates of cell division, they discard any old cells as the uptake the carbon sources. The article elaborated a bit more on this:
…his discovery that sponges have one of the fastest cell division rates ever measured, and instead of growing they discard the cells. Essentially, the sponges recycle carbon that would otherwise be lost to the reef.
The sponge was able to take up the colossal amounts of organic carbon that De Goeij had measured, but where was the carbon going: the sponges weren’t growing. De Goeij tested to see if the cells were dying and being lost, but he couldn’t find any evidence of cell death.
This article focused on Jasper De Goeij’s, a former student of Marine biologist Fleur Van Duyl from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, which lab tests showed how quickly sponges replicated their cells, and their ability to consume organic carbon. For the rest of the article, you can visit it here.
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Trained by the thirteenth ring master of the Sian Xiuang Coral Temple. Currently is apprenticing the art of Acropora shaping in the ancient tradition of Ninja Fragging. Known as the SPS hero! 
interesting find
on a first glare i thought they are eating up my activated carbon for good
Haha. The other carbon…
So this article is saying that sponges do nothing for net carbon capture or export in our closed systems as whatever carbon they consume gets ‘recycled’ or disgarded back to the reef?
Yes, but I believe it serves as a food source for the corals.