Reproduction and early life stages of the poecilosclerid sponge Crella incrustans

Abstract

The majority of benthic invertebrates are characterized by complex life cycles that include one or more free-swimming larval stages

Adaptive strategies of sponges to deoxygenated oceans

“…Histological sections of S. australiensis from the severe hypoxia experiments were analyzed to calculate the percentage of the sponge body occupied by the aquiferous system (system of connected water channels inside the sponge). At T-end, two contracted sponges for each experimental chamber (n = 6 per treatment) were fixed and processed following the methods of Strano et al (2021). Three replicate sections for each sponge were then analysed under a dissecting microscope (Olympus SZ61) and photographed using a Canon EOS 70D digital camera.…”

Marine heatwave conditions drive carryover effects in a temperate sponge microbiome and developmental performance

“…Tissue regression involves an internal and external reorganization of sponge anatomy, including the reabsorption of the aquiferous system and, in some cases, reproductive structures including embryos and larvae [ 60 ]. Crella incrustans is a viviparous sponge that broods embryos and releases fully developed larvae through the canals of the aquiferous system during the Australasian summer [ 41 ]. Heatwave conditions and tissue regression did not inhibit C. incrustans from releasing larvae and we detected no significant effects of these conditions on larval release.…”

“…Heatwave conditions and tissue regression did not inhibit C. incrustans from releasing larvae and we detected no significant effects of these conditions on larval release. Previous histological observations of C. incrustans found that only 57% of sponges sampled between January and March 2020 ( n = 30) had embryos at different developmental stages [ 41 ]. This indicates that not all of the sponges we collected released larvae during experiment 1, and this probably reflects natural variability present in the source population.…”

“…Crella incrustans is a viviparous sponge that broods embryos and releases fully developed larvae through the canals of the aquiferous system during the Australasian summer [41].…”

“…Crella incrustans is an abundant subtidal sponge distributed in temperate Pacific waters and is increasingly considered a model organism in eco-physiological studies [37][38][39]. Like many Demospongiae in temperate seas [40], C. incrustans is a simultaneous hermaphrodite that broods and releases larvae during the summer months [41]. In this study, we experimentally exposed C. incrustans to temperatures recorded during a recent MHW in New Zealand, which occurred during the summer of 2018 and lasted for 11 days at 20.5 ± 0.64°C (daily mean and s.d., in Wellington Harbour).…”