Reproductive Biology of Geodia Species (Porifera, Tetractinellida) From Boreo-Arctic North-Atlantic Deep-Sea Sponge Grounds

Abstract

Boreo-arctic sponge grounds are essential deep-sea structural habitats that provide important services for the ecosystem. These large sponge aggregations are dominated by demosponges of the genus Geodia (order Tetractinellida, family Geodiidae). However, little is known about the basic biological features of these species, such as their life cycle and dispersal capabilities. Here, we surveyed five deep-sea species of Geodia from the North-Atlantic Ocean and studied their reproductive cycle and strategy using light and electron microscopy. The five species were oviparous and gonochoristic. Synchronous development was observed at individual and population level in most of the species. Oocytes had diameters ranging from 8 μm in previtellogenic stage to 103 μm in vitellogenic stage. At vitellogenic stages, oocytes had high content of lipid yolk entirely acquired by autosynthesis, with no participation of nurse cells. Intense vertical transmission of bacterial symbionts to the oocytes by phagocytosis through pseudopodia was observed, especially in late stages of oogenesis. The density of oocytes within the sponge tissue was on average 10 oocytes/mm2 across all species, higher than that of most temperate and tropical oviparous species studied elsewhere. Spermatic cysts were widespread over the tissue during early stages, or fused in larger cysts, around the canals in later stages, and occupying between 1.5 and 12% of the tissue in males. The reproductive season spanned similar periods for all Geodia spp.: from late spring to early autumn. During the reproductive peak of each species, between 60 and 90% of the population was engaged in reproduction for most species. Given the present hazards that threaten the boreo-arctic tetractinellid sponge grounds, it becomes crucial to understand the processes behind the maintenance and regeneration of populations of keystone deep-sea species in order to predict the magnitude of human impacts and estimate their ability to recover. The information provided in this study will be useful for developing adequate conservation strategies for these vulnerable deep-sea habitats.

Oogenesis and lipid metabolism in the deep-sea sponge Phakellia ventilabrum: an histological, lipidomic and transcriptomic approach

“…Even though it is di cult to conclude on the reproductive period of P. ventilabrum, having samples only from an extremely restricted period of time, we expect that its reproductive cycle coincides with that of other demosponge species, like Geodia spp. which are present at the same locations (86,87). Spetland and collaborators (86) found two reproductive cycles for some populations of Geodia barretti (88) at Kosterfjord, with one spawning season to be estimated in late spring (May/June) and the other in October.…”

Reproduction, recruitment, and growth of the Arctic deep‐sea hydroid Bouillonia cornucopia

“…Reproduction and growth of polar invertebrates can be high when environmental conditions allow (Dayton et al, 2016, 2019). Reproductive modes have been studied in Arctic invertebrates including sponges (Koutsouveli et al, 2020; Witte, 1996), barnacles (Walczyńska et al, 2019), bryozoans (Shevchenko et al, 2020), polychaetes (Rzhavsky et al, 2018), echinoderms (Kremenetskaia et al, 2020; Sumida et al, 2000; Tyler & Pain, 1982), and tunicates (Ferrero et al, 2019). However, much remains to be discovered regarding life histories of Arctic sessile hard‐bottom invertebrates.…”

The Effects of Sampling and Storage Conditions on the Metabolite Profile of the Marine Sponge Geodia barretti

“…However, all specimens were of approximately the same size, the pieces were sampled from the interior of the sponges and all specimens were collected during the same day from the same region (geographically) and depth. Furthermore, the reproductive status of the specimens were controlled by using histological sections but none of the three samples were in a reproductive state (Koutsouveli et al, 2020a). No separation between the EtOH extr.1 and MeOH extr.1 was detected in the PCA:s of the aqueous extracts (Figure 3).…”

“…Geodia barretti (Geodiidae family, Tetractinellida order) is a massive deep-sea demosponge that is widely spread in the North Atlantic, including the Swedish West coast (Cárdenas et al, 2013;Cárdenas and Rapp, 2015). It is a key species of boreal sponge grounds Klitgaard and Tendal (2004), Murillo et al (2012), regularly studied for the many ecosystem services it provides Hoffmann et al (2009), Leys et al (2018), Maier et al (2020) and an important research organism in sponge biology Kutti et al (2015), Strand et al (2017), Koutsouveli et al (2020a), Koutsouveli et al (2020b), de Kluijver et al (2021, sponge cell culture Conkling et al (2019), sponge microbiology Radax et al (2012), Schöttner et al (2013), Luter et al (2017) as well as marine natural product research (Lidgren and Bohlin, 1986;Sjögren et al, 2004;Hedner et al, 2008;Carstens et al, 2015;Olsen et al, 2016a;Di et al, 2018).…”