The Marine Encyclopedia Blog

salute to colleague

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:14:41 GMT

From time to time, we are going to feature colleagues and scientists who continue to assist us with our quest to make Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest a helpful resource. Our initial salute to Neil McDaniel is timely as he has shared an excellent note on an inconspicuous but fascinating little sponge of which virtually nothing is known. This post typifies Neil's curiosity and excellent observational skills as well his dogged determination to find out what species is involved.

Neil has been photographing marine life since 1969 when he learned to SCUBA dive while completing a BSc degree in marine zoology at the University of British Columbia. After graduating, his first employment was at the Pacific Environment Institute in West Vancouver. It was there, while he was toiling as a technician for a study primarily focusing on the ecology of marine life in nearby Howe Sound that Andy and Neil first met.

Totally smitten with diving and wanting to 'focus' on a a career in underwater photography, Neil decided to leave government service and soon became the editor of DIVER Magazine in the early 1970s. Not only did this provide an employment opportunity but allowed him to free lance utilizing his ever improving skills in underwater still and motion picture photography. He continues along this path, providing excellent cinematography, primarily for nature documentaries. Next time you are watching one of these underwater epics, check the credits and you might find Neil's name listed there.

Neil is also a published author and we highly recommend his efforts -- both via Harbour Publishing.In Super Suckers: The Giant Pacific Octopus and other Cephalopods of the Pacific Coast with James A. Cosgrove, 2009, he provides the easily read but definitive reference on the subject. In 2011, Neil created A Field Guide to Sea Stars of the Pacific Northwest -- a superb pocket size but total treatment of this obvious and fascinating group of marine creatures.

Neil continues to pursue his passion for Pacific Northwest marine life in many ways. In one of these projects, he is working with Dr. Bill Austin (Khoyatan Marine Laboratory), Dr. Henry Reiswig and Dr. Bruce Ott to document and describe the poorly understood sponges that occur in the Pacific Northwest. We hope to work with these researchers as part of this online project.

Tendril sponge--images

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:14:50 GMT

"A picture's worth..." Further to my previous post about the unusual TENDRIL SPONGE, here are a couple of pictures. These were taken in Sechelt Inlet, British Columbia, about 80 feet deep. Keep in mind that these are tiny creatures... the basal, attached part of the sponge is only about 6 mm in diameter.

The bottom picture is a slight enlargement so that the shape and texture of the basal part can been seen better.

How about that for a bizarre-looking sponge? I will post further information as we learn more about this strange and seemingly rare creature.

The Tendril Sponge--Weird or what?

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 06:13:46 GMT

Marine sponges are common and abundant in the Pacific Northwest, with well over 250 species reported. They thrive in the plankton-rich, current-swept passages along our shores, often dominating underwater terrains with colourful encrusting carpets, massive, gnarled lumps or supple, swaying fans.

Many PNW sponges are well-known to naturalists and can be relatively easily identified by their shape, colour and size. But there are many others that have yet to be properly described and require detailed examination of the shape and arrangement of their spicules in order to decide where they fit in amongst their fellow sponges. These characters must be compared with those of known species from around the world to determine whether they are an already-known species or something new to science. As you might imagine this is painstaking and difficult work, given that the original descriptions of many species were not terribly thorough and that the original (type) specimens that were used to make the determination may no longer even exist.

Sponge taxonomy isn't exactly a glamorous, high-profile scientific pursuit. Yet in the PNW we are extremely fortunate to have dedicated experts such as Bill Austin, Bruce Ott and Henry Reiswig who tackle this unsung task with dedication and enthusiasm. I'm certainly no taxonomist, but I am an observant diver/photographer, and it has been a pleasure to assist in the process of learning more about our local sponges by collecting and photographing interesting specimens.

It's actually quite amazing what even a "nothing-fancy" dive site in Howe Sound will turn up. Right under our noses, just a few miles from downtown Vancouver, dwell sponges that have never even been reported from these waters before. Undescribed species are, amazingly, quite common. Perhaps that speaks to the amount of time scientists have devoted to lowly sponges as opposed to say, much more flamboyant and certainly better known nudibranchs.

I'll say more about Howe Sound and its enigmatic sponges at a later date, but first to the sponge that inspired this post.

While diving in Sechelt Inlet in February this year I was swimming alongside a rocky bluff at about 80 feet, looking carefully for small encrusting sponges that I wanted to photograph. The rocky slope at this site was quite rich, with thousands of small lampshells (brachiopods) carpeting the bottom and the occasional boot sponge festooned with graceful feather stars. The water was a chilly 8 degrees, and while I was reasonably comfortable inside my neoprene drysuit, I could feel my hands starting to get numb as the dive progressed. As I panned my underwater flashlight across a vertical wall, I spotted two unusual creatures. They were tiny white blobs, only 6 mm in diameter, and attached to each blob was an extremely long, slender tendril, one of which seemed to be at least 100 mm long. They certainly looked to be sponges, but nothing like I had seen in over 40 years of diving on this coast. I had never encountered a sponge with such an unusual, extremely long "whip" or tendril, attached to its body.

Fortunately I had my close-up lens on my digital underwater camera, so first I took some pictures. Then I carefully pried the delicate specimens off the rock using a thin knife and deposited them into a plastic bag. At the surface I preserved the specimens in ethanol and later shipped them over to Bill Austin at the Khoyatan Marine Lab in Saanich. The "tendril sponge" was finally in expert hands...

I asked Andy Lamb if he had ever seen such a thing. "As a matter of fact..." he replied, directing me to PO69 on page 78 of Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. Sure enough, there was a picture of the same sponge I had found. Bernie Hanby, who had taken the picture back in November of 1992, gave me some background. He remembered finding a single specimen about 50 ft deep on a rock wall in Agamemnon Channel at the entrance to Jervis Inlet, not far from where I had found some. He has never seen another.

Bill examined the specimens with his trusty microscope and advised that they belong to the Family Polymastiidae. There are three members of this family commonly encountered by divers in the PNW: the aggregated nipple sponge (PO17), the aggregated vase sponge (PO18) and the retractable nipple sponge (PO19). Yet while the tendril sponge has characteristic spicules of this family, it looks nothing like these sponges. So here's where it gets interesting. Bill suggests that the tendril sponge could be the asexual budding stage of an existing species, perhaps PO18, Polymastia pacifica. In other species of this family it has been observed that a bud is pinched off the adult sponge which then elongates rapidly and produces smaller buds which break off and develop into new sponges. The long tendril perhaps allows the "mother" sponge some room to grow by placing the new buds at a reasonable distance but on similar suitable substrate. But this is only speculation. If this is indeed a "phase," it most likely would belong to Polymastia pacifica, which is the only one of the three common Polymastiidae actually found close by. Bill suggests that the DNA of the tendril sponge could be compared to Polymastia pacifica--this could provide the definite answer, the "smoking gun" as it were, to this riddle. Is the tendril sponge an entirely new species, or is it a budding phase of a known sponge?

That question remains to be answered. In the meantime we would greatly appreciate input from divers and underwater photographers who happen to encounter this mysterious, seriously weird sponge. Contact the author at neil.mcd@telus.net

Welcome to the Marine Encyclopedia Blog

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:19:36 GMT

Welcome to the Marine Encyclopedia Blog, the interactive connection to the online version of Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. The authors and Harbour Publishing are pleased to present this opportunity for you to share this forum.

Since the hard copy of Marine Life appeared in 2005, we have received much feedback – virtually all positive – from all quarters. It appears that our primary goal of producing a comprehensive reference which allows people to identify organisms that they have encountered throughout the Pacific Northwest has been attained.

A most gratifying “spin off” result has been the many conversations, either in person or by email, generated via inquiries made to Bernie and Andy. Sharing these opportunities has been both enjoyable and instructive for us. The creation of this blog with the availability of an online version of Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest provides a means of turning the book into a veritable “living organism”.

Like other hard copy references, Marine Life is subject to becoming “dated” as new information is generated post release. The online version provides a solution as it can be updated quickly, as needed. To this end, we will be making numerous adjustments and updates that will appear online.

However, we anticipate involving you, the interested readership and “extra eyes” upon or in Pacific Northwest waters. To date, many excellent reports and photographs have crossed our desks concerning organisms people have encountered during their explorations. Often working with our cadre of scientific authorities, we have verified numerous significant discoveries and behaviours. Many of these findings will hopefully lead to inclusion in the online version of Marine Life.

This blog allows this process to reach another level and offers a more direct option for your participation and contribution. As an initial example, we present the following illustrated vignette, anticipating it will stimulate your interest.

Karin Fletcher and Doug Miller are SCUBA diving buddies we encountered as a direct result of their interest and use of Marine Life as a post dive reference. They have contributed items to Andy’s regular mystery critter feature in Northwest Dive News, a source that continues to offer a connection for divers with questions about marine life.

During a recent outing at Day Island, a popular SCUBA site near Tacoma, Washington, Karin and Doug came across a rather remarkable scene. As they were finishing the dive along the gravel bottomed shallows, they were attracted by the writhing motion of a small, bright red worm. Upon closer inspection, they noticed it was under attack from a six-lined ribbon worm Tubulanus sexlineatus. Indeed the ribbon worm had impaled the prey with the harpoon-like tip of its elongated proboscis. The subsequent struggle resulted in the prey becoming entangled in the extended proboscis as the accompanying photographs show.

ribbon worm predation

Familiar with the six-lined ribbon worm, Karin and Doug forwarded the image, inquiring about what had transpired and the identity of the victim. The answer to the final part of the question is still in process – although it is obviously a polychaete worm. The image has been forwarded to Sheila Byers (a.k.a. “Dr. Worm”) in pursuit of the little red worm’s identity. Without a specimen to examine and using the available photographs that unfortunately do not illustrate key features of the head area, Sheila’s initial reaction was that the unfortunate victim was a species of orbit worm (Family: Orbiniidae). Stay tuned though, as Shelia plans to plough through her references and likely confer with colleagues on this matter.

With Karin and Doug’s enthusiastic permission, we will be adding one of their images to the online version of Marine Life with a suitable caption and acknowledgment.

We invite you to send your questions and unidentified photographs to andylamb@telus.net, or leave your queries in the comments below.