ATTACK OF THE KILLER SPONGE

It's been a while since I've introduced a crazy-sea-creature...OK, it's been a while since I posted at all, but lets get back to our watery-roots. Today, I'd like to take you down the eddy to a seafloor nightmare: Sponge Bob's evil twin (dun, dun, dun!)



Sponge Bob's Evil Twin?

 ...the Harp Sponge.

The harp sponge (Chondrocladia lyra) is a species of carnivorous deep-sea sponge. Yes, you read that right. Carniverous. Predators.

They don't eat in the typical way of sponges that sweep water into their pores and filter out microscopic bacteria and bits of organic matter for dinner. This sponge is a hunter: it traps larger marine life like copepods and other crustaceans with Velcro-like hooks.

The harp sponge was discovered by Monterey BayAquarium Research Institute off the coast of California. As you can see in this picture, it gets its name (both common, Harp Sponge, and Latin species name, lyra from it's branching arms, or vanes, with vertical limbs that look like the strings of a harp or lyre.

A deep sea Harp Sponge. Photo from MBARI

Don't let the delicate beauty of this bad-boy-Sponge-Bob fool you. Those branching limbs are covered with barbed hooks that trap their prey. Then, the sponge encapsulates them in a digestive membrane, dissolving them into a fish-smoothie that it can absorb through its pores. Yummmm.

Here's another look.

 Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the ocean...


 

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND YOU!

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) occur when usually harmless phytoplankton--microscopic or very small, photosynthetic marine organisms--reach high densities. Their numbers rapidly increase in a given area to the point where they go from harmless to hazardous.

The hazard they present can come from their anatomy, physiology or metabolism.

ANATOMY
Some diatoms, like those pictured below, have sharp spines that can cause fish to suffocate by getting lodged in their gills and causing acute inflammation. Some microscopic algae produce mucus, clogging gills and leading to fish's respiratory failure.

Fish with spiny diatoms in its gills.
(Image from www.bigelow.org)
 

The spiny diatom Corethron pennatum 
(image from www.phys.org)

PHYSIOLOGY AND METABOLISM
Some phytoplankton affect theorganisms that prey on them by interfering with feeding. The mucus the phytoplankton produce might make them unpalatable or indigestible. Others have such low nutritional value that the organisms that eat them actually starve to death!

Perhaps the most well-known HABs are those that produce toxic blooms. We commonly call those "red tides" although the water color isn't necessarily red, but can be yellow, green, or brown due to the sheer numbers of phytoplankton. Some of the algae that cause the color changes are capable of producing powerful toxins that are harmful or deadly to other species. The toxins may kill fish, injure marine invertebrates, and cause human illness or death from ingesting shellfish that have accumulated the toxin in their tissue. Some of the human illnesses from ingesting contaminated seafood include Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP), Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP), Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning (NSP), Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP), and Ciguaterra Fish Poisoning (CFP).

A "red tide" bloom.
          From The Baltic Sea Portal (Itameriportaali).

While phytoplankton use photosynthesis to create their food source and release oxygen into the environment, their high productivity and short lifespan means a high turnover of biomass---lots of dead microalgae. As those decompose, they quickly deplete all the oxygen in an area, resulting anoxia---low or no oxygen in the surrounding water. Their decomposition also results in the formation of toxic sulfides in the water. The lack of oxygen and production of sulfides creates a deadly scenario for most marine life that can lead to massive fish die-offs.

Fish die-off due to anoxic conditions from a HAB
(photo from G. Pitcher, via www.bigelow.org)

PREDATION
At least one species of phytoplankton, Pfiesteria piscicida, is actually a predator, killing and then feeding on fish in the waters they inhabit.

WHO CARES?

We all should. HABs affect everyone! They're a global threat to living resources, fishing, tourism, and human health because the number and intensity of these events appear to be increasing in many countries. In the last two decades, HABs are estimated to have caused as much as $1 billion in losses to coastal resources and communities (NOAA). Check HERE for more information on the socioeconomic impacts of HABs (WHOI).

Preventing and eliminating harmful algal blooms is no easy tasks. There are numerous factors that influence the formation, distribution and duration of blooms. It’s difficult to control one factor in the environment, let alone all factors for all algae in all locations. In addition, any action taken to prevent or to remove a bloom has consequences for the other organisms in the environment.

A combination of factors contribute to the development of HABs such as the presence of  nutrients, warm temperatures and lots of light. Rising ocean temperatures from climate change, increased nutrient run-off from land due to poor land-development practices and a loss of wetlands, and the break down of marine food chains due to overfishing all play roles and are all increasing, so we can most likely expect to see more and more HABs in the future. 

Researchers are constantly trying to gain a better understanding of HABs to help find ways to control their development and reduce their impacts. Early detection of their formation is critical to prevent impacts to human health by issuing fishery and beach closures in impacted areas. 

If that makes you feel helpless to do anything about HABs, you're NOT! You can help by asking state and local lawmakers to implement better land-use planning and wetland preservation to protect coastal water quality, learning the facts about climate change, and demanding good, research-based science, not hype, someone's political- or financial-gain, or fear, drive government decision-making.



FOR MORE ON HABS, CHECK OUT THESE SITES

• Bigelow Lab for Ocean Science  http://www.bigelow.org/edhab/help_hab.html
• Environmental Health, 2008. Impacts of climate variability and future climate change on harmful algal blooms and human health. http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1476-069X-7-S2-S4.pdf
• Environmental Protection Agency http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/climatehabs.pdf
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service  http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/lessons/bad_algae.html
• Texas A&M, Ocean World Online Textbook http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/harmfulagalblooms.htm
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute https://www.whoi.edu/redtide/home

A Long Overdue "Thank You!" to My Mentors, or How I Became a Marine Scientist

"The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises." --Leo F. Buscaglia

I received a lovely message from one of my former students who took an Intro to Oceanography class from me a few years ago. What a lift to read that I'd had a positive influence on him! Because of me and my class, his career went in a completely different direction than he'd planned. He'd taken my class to fulfill a science elective requirement toward his business degree. He's now working on his master in environmental chemistry. He changed majors because I "got him excited about science," and made him "believe I could do it."

Wow.

Maybe I've had that impact on other students--I hope I have--but to have it acknowledged...Wow. It made my day and more.

It also made me reflect back on the influential teachers I've had along the way. I am the person I am today, not only a marine scientist, but all of me, because of them. If I am a fraction as helpful to my students as these people were to me, my time in the classroom and lab, office and field will have been well-spent.

To get me started on my journey, I have two professors I need to thank whose names I can't even recall. As an undergrad at SUNY-Binghamton (now Binghamton University), I floundered from one major to the next, excelling most at partying. Until my introductory biology class. In a lecture hall with 300 students, I felt this now nameless professor was speaking directly to me, and I found my major. The second nameless zoology professor recommended I spend a summer at a field station. Although he gave that advice to a lecture hall with about 100 students in it, I again felt he was talking directly to me. I found Shoal's Marine Lab, and found my passion: marine science.

My Alma Mater's Logo

After a summer at Shoals, I transferred to the (then) College of the Virgin Islands (now University of the Virgin Islands) and that's where I had the honor, pleasure, and pain of being instructed, scolded, harangued, and mentored by the five most influential people in my life. I can't pick one above the others because each provided me with some different thing that I desperately needed at the time. Together, their guidance--sometimes loving, sometimes with a swift kick as needed--formed me into who I would become, and continues to mold me. Their influence put me on the path to my career in marine science, and made me want to "pay it forward" as a college professor. They also gave me the audacity to dream big and live big--enough to pursue my second career as a writer.

Long overdue as it may be, "THANK YOU"--and that's hardly sufficient for the debt I owe them--to my mentors: Sabino, Watlington, Ragster, Gorham, and MacLean.

When I arrived in St. Thomas alone, not knowing a soul, and somewhat adrift, Mark Sabino, took me under his wing, included me in the group, made me part of his family, and helped me feel I belonged. Sabino accepted each of us for who we were, and let us feel that was okay. He showed by example how to embrace life on our own terms, not those of anyone else. From him, we learned that fun, hard work, and excellence aren't mutually exclusive. Mark showed me how to embrace life, and live it well.

My favorite view in the world:
UVI, Brewer's Bay, and Saba and Flat Cay in the distance.

Professor Watlington made us all better than we were. He saw the potential in each of us, even when we didn't. In his eyes, the most irresponsible among us, the biggest partiers, the screw-ups, still had it in us to go on and become PhDs, MDs, community leaders--productive, intelligent adults. And we did. We fed off his positive energy and got excited about physics, about geology, about the natural environment, and the history of the Virgin Islands. We learned through his example, that we could and should have a wide range of interests, hobbies, and activities; to not be one-dimensional. I became better and more than I ever thought I could because he believed I could, because he acted like I already was, and so I lived up to it. Roy showed me how to exceed expectations, my own and others.

Dr. Ragster became my undergraduate advisor and I became her headache. She set some pretty high standards for herself and expected us all to do the same. One of the worst days of my life was when I had to explain to her that I'd failed statistics because it was an 8:00 a.m. class and I bartended until 4:00 a.m. then had after-hours parties to go to until 6 or 7. Her look of disappointment devastated me. She didn't give me the benefit of the doubt, but instead demanded better. She asked for results, not excuses. She made me work harder than I wanted to. I must have done okay because a few years later, she hired me to work for her. LaVerne showed me how to challenge myself.

The William P. MacLean Marine Science Center.
When I returned to UVI with the Sea Grant Program in 1992,
my office was behind that window to the left of the door, steps away from Brewer's Bay. 

Dr. Gorham was my de facto advisor both in school and life. He mentored me in the best way possible: He gave me the latitude to screw up--at times royally--and the trust to let me find my way back after I did. He never told me an answer, but kept questioned me, making me look more closely, forcing me (sometimes kicking and screaming) to think critically, making me figure it out and draw logical, evidence-based conclusions. Because he didn't tell me the answer, but made me work things out, I gained a real appreciation of the power of the scientific method, and the nuances and structure of it. The most amazing part of Dr. Gorham's influence on me is that I rarely felt it. It wasn't until later, in grad school and in life, that I realized what an incredible gift his guidance was. He let me go, falter, stumble, and back-track while he just stood back, letting me know he was there if I needed him, not judging me, not doing the work for me, but supporting me. How much easier it would have been for him to step in and tell me the answer, tell me what to think, tell me what would or wouldn't work. But he didn't. He trusted the scientific method--critical thinking--and my own intellect enough to patiently wait for me to get there. He gave me the confidence to make mistakes, and the knowledge that our greatest progress comes from them, as long as we learn from them. He encouraged me to go to grad school and made me believe I could succeed. Bill gave me confidence in myself.

Finally, Dr. MacLean, who had been something of a bogey man to me as I progressed through my classes, became my hero. Dr. MacLean had a reputation as a hard-ass. The sign on his office door announced, "Be aware that if you ask me to write you a recommendation, it will reflect the grade you received in my class. A B-grade gets a B-recommendation, a C gets a C-recommendation, etc." While students occasionally received an A on his tests, the number who'd gotten an A in his classes could be counted on one hand. He made us work, he demanded that we not only read the book, but understand it. We couldn't spit back memorized words, but had to think and explain ourselves to demonstrate real understanding. There was no leeway between an almost right answer and a wrong answer. He assumed we were all capable and competent, assumed we could all keep up or we wouldn't be in his class. He didn't talk down to us and didn't slow down his lectures for us. We surprised ourselves my keeping up. He gave us a glimpse into what our science careers would look like by inviting us to his house to have discussions on breakthroughs in the field  over dinner, and going on impromptu field trips. He gave me my first glimpse into what it would feel like to not be a student, but a scientist, a colleague. When I received the first 100 he'd ever given on an exam, I cried. Getting one of the few, hard-earned As in his class, and his recommendation for grad school gave me real pride. He made me believe I could be more than I'd ever imagined. 

Each of these five people are larger than life to me. The are my heroes, mentors, and role models. Eventually, they became my colleagues and friends, as well. I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for them, individually, and together as my UVI professors. I swell with pride thinking about my alma mater, the University of the Virgin Islands, because it--and they in particular--made me who I am today.

I caught my love of science and teaching, and of sharing my passion for discovery with my students from Sabino, Watlington, Ragster, Gorham, and MacLean. I hope it's as contagious to my students as they made it for me. I'm so pleased that, for at least one of my students, I succeeded.

Who were your role models and mentors? Leave a comment and tell us about them. Better yet, give them a call or send them a message letting them know it!

 

P.S.

Here's another testament to the impact Bill MacLean had on us from another former student: http://weareuvi.blogspot.com/2012/07/dr-lawrence-lewis-1973.html