Spongilla

{{Short description|Genus of sponges}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Spongilla_lacustris.jpg | image_caption = ''Spongilla lacustris'' in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, Washington, USA. | taxon = Spongilla | authority = Lamarck, 1816<ref>{{cite WoRMS | author = van Soest, R. | year = 2014 | title = ''Spongilla'' Lamarck, 1816 | id = 167224 | access-date = 2014-05-22 | db = porifera }}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text | synonyms = * ''Crelloxea'' Hechtel, 1983 * ''Euspongilla'' Vejdovsky, 1883 * ''Spongilla (Euspongilla)'' Vejdovsky, 1883 }}

'''''Spongilla''''' is a genus of freshwater sponges. They can be found on submerged objects in clean lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Douglas Grant |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pennak_s_Freshwater_Invertebrates_of_the/GqIctb8IqPoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA41&printsec=frontcover |title=Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea |date=2001-08-07 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-471-35837-4 |pages=41, 48 |language=en}}</ref> Spongilla was first publicly recognized in 1696 by Leonard Plukenet<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gunther|first=A|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/79589|title=The Annals and Magazine of natural history, zoology, botany, and geology|publisher=London Taylor and Francis, Ltd|year=1881|pages=77}}</ref> and described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1816.<ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Manconi |first=Renata |title=Suborder Spongillina subord. nov.: Freshwater Sponges |date=2002 |work=Systema Porifera |pages=926-927 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=John N. A. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_97 |access-date=2026-05-22 |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer US |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_97 |isbn=978-0-306-47260-2 |last2=Pronzato |first2=Roberto |editor2-last=Van Soest |editor2-first=Rob W. M. |editor3-last=Willenz |editor3-first=Philippe|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The type species is ''Spongilla lacustris'', described by Carl Linnaeus''.''<ref name=":2" />

''Spongilla'' have a leuconoid body form with a skeleton composed of siliceous spicules. They are sessile organisms, attaching themselves to hard substrate such as rocks, logs, and sometimes to ground.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brusca|first=Richard C. |title=Invertebrates |edition= 3rd |publisher=Sinauer Associates |year=2016 |isbn=9781605353753 |location=Sunderland, MA |pages=222}}</ref> Using their ostia and osculum, these sponges filter the water for small aquatic organisms such as protozoans, bacteria, and other free-floating pond life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Skelton |first=J |last2=Strand |first2=M |date=2013 |title=Trophic ecology of a freshwater sponge ( Spongilla lacustris) revealed by stable isotope analysis |url= |journal=Hydrobiologia |volume=709 |issue=1 |pages=227–235 |doi=10.1007/s10750-013-1452-6 |via=ECBHost}}</ref> Sponges of the genus ''Spongilla'' partake in symbiotic relationships with the green algae, zoochlorellae, which gives the sponges a green appearance, and without which they would appear white.<ref name=":0" />

''Spongilla'' was used by John Hogg in the 19th century to attempt to justify a fourth kingdom of life.<ref>{{Citation | last = Hogg | first = John| author-link = John Hogg (biologist) | title = On the distinctions of a plant and an animal and on a fourth kingdom of Nature | journal = Edinb N Phil J (N Ser) | volume = 12 | pages = 218-219 | year = 1860|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/On_the_distinctions_of_a_Plant_and_an_An/_s56iOARQZAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA218&printsec=frontcover}}</ref>

== Reproduction == ''Spongilla'' are hermaphrodites, producing egg and sperm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saller |first=Uwe |last2=Weissenfels |first2=Norbert |date=December 1985 |title=The development of Spongilla lacustris from the oocyte to the free larva (Porifera, Spongillidae) |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00312280 |journal=Zoomorphology |language=en |volume=105 |issue=6 |pages=367–374 |doi=10.1007/BF00312280 |issn=0720-213X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Sperm is released from one sponge and brought in through the ostia of another sponge. Once the sperm reaches the body cavity it fertilizes an egg, which develops into a free-swimming larva. The free-swimming larvae are released out the osculum and will eventually settle and attach elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baldacconi |first=R. |last2=Nonnis-Marzano |first2=C. |last3=Gaino |first3=E. |last4=Corriero |first4=G. |date=2007-09-15 |title=Sexual reproduction, larval development and release in Spongia officinalis L. (Porifera, Demospongiae) from the Apulian coast |url= |journal=Marine Biology |volume=152 |issue=4 |pages=969–979 |doi=10.1007/s00227-007-0747-4}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Citation is not specific to this genus|date=May 2026}} Since the larvae are developed inside the spongilla, it is viviparous.

Unlike marine sponges, freshwater sponges are exposed to far more variable environmental conditions, so they have developed gemmules as an overwintering mechanism. This is a form of asexual reproduction. When exposed to environmental factors such as cooler water in the fall, or triggered by endogenous factors in the summer, the sponges form gemmules.<ref name=":1" /> Gemmules are highly resistant buds that can live dormant for extended periods of time. When conditions improve, the gemmules "germinate", and a new sponge is born.

==Species== * ''Spongilla alba'' Carter, 1849 * ''Spongilla arctica'' Annandale, 1915 * ''Spongilla cenota'' Penney & Racek, 1968 * ''Spongilla chaohuensis'' Cheng, 1991 * ''Spongilla gutenbergiana'' Müller, Zahn & Maidhof, 1982 * ''Spongilla helvetica'' Annandale, 1909 * ''Spongilla jiujiangensis'' Cheng, 1991 * ''Spongilla lacustris'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Spongilla mucronata'' Topsent, 1932 * ''Spongilla permixta'' Weltner, 1895 * ''Spongilla prespensis'' Hadzische, 1953 * ''Spongilla sarasinorum'' Weltner, 1901 * ''Spongilla shikaribensis'' Sasaki, 1934 * ''Spongilla stankovici'' Arndt, 1938 * ''Spongilla wagneri'' Potts, 1889

==References== ;Footnotes {{Reflist}} ;Bibliography * Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 19, 2007 at http://animaldiversity.org. * {{cite encyclopedia | title = freshwater sponge | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica Online | access-date = 2014-05-22 | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/219790/freshwater-sponge }} * {{cite book | publisher = Carolina Biological Supply Company | title = Protozoa and Invertebrates Manual | location = Burlington NC | date = 1980 | url = http://www.carolina.com/teacher-resources/Document/protozoa-invert-care-handling-instructions/tr10466.tr | page = 15 | isbn = 978-0892780365 }}

==External links== {{Commons category}} {{Wikispecies}} * {{EOL}} * [https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=47692 Integrated Taxonomica Information System (ITIS): Spongilla Lamarck, 1816 Taxonomic Serial No.: 47692] * [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=6054&lvl=0 National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI): Spongilla Taxonomy ID: 6054]

Category:Sponge genera Category:Spongillidae Category:Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck