Video by Leno Davis.
This Tube Sponge underwater coral reef video was taken at Cay Sal Bank, Bahamas on the Global Reef Expedition filming of sea creatures and coral reef life.
The tall tubes made by this sponge are a kind of natural “chimney,” drawing a current of water through the sponge. Inside the sponge thousands of small cells work together to filter out plankton.
Sponges are sometimes not easy to identify as the same species can have different shapes and colors, depending on where it settles and the peculiarities of local populations. This one from Cal Sal Bank, Bahamas, may be Agelas crebum or Agelas tubulata, which both have lumpy unevenly distributed parts of the body and crenulations somewhat like the surface of a brain (hence the species name ‘crebum’ presumably, but the overall effect is to make a decorative and interesting pattern. The are found in many parts of the Caribbean and there is a great on-line picture guide to Caribbean sponges here: http://www.spongeguide.org/index.php
