condo sponge w brittlestars @ P Hantu 12April2009

condo sponge w brittlestars 12Apr2009 from BeachBum on Vimeo.

Various types of sponge are commonly found on Singapore's intertidal reefs. This videoed sponge is ball shaped and contains numerous holes out of which can be seen the many arms of tiny brittlestars. The ball sponge was sized similar to a tennis ball....so you can imagine how small the brittlestars were!...supersmall!!!

The ball sponges can be likened to a condominium which has different apartments each with it's own resident tenant. However, you can find not only brittlestars but also other animals like barnacles. Towards the 50 second mark, you can see, at the lower left part of the frame, a fan like structure sticking out from one of the 'apartments'. This are the feeding tentacles of a barnacle!

Want to know more about sponges, brittlestars and barnacles? Have a look here! :-
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/porifera/suberites.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/echinodermata/ophiuroidea/tinysponge.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/othercrust/ciriipedia/cirripedia.htm