Monorhaphis
Monorhaphis is a monotypic genus of siliceous deep sea Hexactinellid sponges. The single species is the type species Monorhaphis chuni, a sponge known for creating a single giant basal spicule (G.B.S.) to anchor the sponge in the sediments. The species was described by Franz Eilhard Schulze in 1904 from specimens collected by the German Deep Sea Expedition in 1898-1899.[2] Monorhaphis is also the only genus in the monotypic family Monorhaphididae.
| Monorhaphididae chuni | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Class: | Hexactinellida |
| Order: | Amphidiscosida |
| Family: | Monorhaphididae Iijima, 1927 |
| Genus: | Monorhaphis Schulze, 1904 |
| Species: | M. chuni |
| Binomial name | |
| Monorhaphis chuni Schulze, 1904 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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(Species)
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One study provides substantial evidence that an individual of this deep-sea sponge, that forms giant spicules up to 3 meters long, is about 11,000 years old.[3]
Five other individuals collected from depths of 1,100 to 2,100 meters at three widely separated locations in the western Pacific Ocean were estimated to be 6,000 to 18,000 (±1,000) years old and grew radially at about 140 μm per 1,000 years.[4] The samples were shown to record deep ocean silica geochemistry throughout their lives. Hyalonema are a type of porifera having rough threads at the bottom with a long and twisted stem of a bundle of glass fibres which are used to anchor the sponge to the marshy sea bed on which it lives. Hyalonema is a marine form found 10-15 meters deep in sea. It has a rounded or oval body with a spirally twisted root tuft. spicules of root tuft continue through the sponge body as an axis or collumella and projects above as a gastral cone. Root spicules are compact, stalk-like and twisted giving the appearance of a rope. middle part of collumella has symbiotic polyps.
References
- "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Monorhaphis chuni Schulze, 1904". Retrieved 2010-11-27.
- Xiaohong, Wang; Schröder; Müller, E.G. (2009). "Giant Siliceous Spicules from the Deep-sea Glass Sponge Monorhaphis chuni". In Jeon, Kwang W. (ed.). International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology, Vol. 273. London: Academic. pp. 69–115. ISBN 978-0-12-374804-1.
- Jochum KP, Wang X, Vennemann TW, Sinha B, Müller WEG. Silieous deep-sea sponge Monorhaphis chuni: A potential paleoclimate archive in ancient animals. Chem Geol. 2010;300–301:143–151.
- Jochum, KP; Schuessler, JA; Wang, XH (2017). "Whole‐Ocean Changes in Silica and Ge/Si Ratios During the Last Deglacial Deduced From Long‐Lived Giant Glass Sponges". Geophysical Research Letters. 44 (22): 11, 555–11, 564. doi:10.1002/2017GL073897.