From Palm Beach down to the Florida Keys by the Sombrero Reef, red barrel sponges are decomposing at unheard of rates, according to marine biologists.
The culprit is an uncommon disease, and scientists are busy trying to figure out just how widespread the outbreak is.
Jose Lopez, Ph.D., associate professor of biology at the NSU Oceanographic Center first observed sponges deteriorating off the coast of Broward and others confirmed that the sponges in South Florida were dying.
“We noticed the widespread outbreak in the area in early April,” said Lopez. “As far as we can tell, this is the largest event we’ve seen so far, at least in Florida.”
Scientists have dubbed the disease Sponge Orange Band, because it appears as a bright orange band that progresses through the sponge and leads to the massive destruction of the pinacoderm, but Lopez hasn’t been able to confirm the actual pathogen responsible.
“So far the outbreak is happening regionally. We have not heard of any outbreak in other parts of the world as of yet,” Lopez said.
He said that such occurrences have happened in the past in waters off the coast of Australia and Africa but never off of the coast of Florida.
In May the Marine Microbiology and Genetics Laboratory in the Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystems Sciences of Nova Southeastern University was able to collect multiple samples of both diseased and healthy sponges for in depth genetic and microscopic analyses.
Although the sponge is a primitive animal, it is still important, according to Lopez.
The sponge holds fundamental biological concepts like microbial symbiosis, that benefit scientific and medical research.
According to Lopez, “The use of high level machinery is expensive to use and without funding, whether public or private. The Xestospongia muta samples we have collected will remain frozen, archived and unanalyzed” he said.
But Lopez is being proactive in finding funds for his research. He’s started a webpage on the social network site Kickstarter.com. His goal is to raise $17,000 by October. So far he has raised about $1,000.
Undaunted, Lopez moves forward.
“I will continue my research. It is important to continue to study exactly what is happening to our environment.”
For more information about Sponge Orange Band contact NSU Oceanographic Center at (954) 262-3617 or visit http://www.nova.edu/ocean/index.html.
