![]() Bioeroding sponge abundances have been reported to increase with environmental change. ![]() Fluorescent dye was applied to its base to show how the water is taken up through tiny surface pores, pumped through the sponge and exhaled through larger openings at the top. Fish scrape or bite off algal turf or encrusting algae and remove some of the coral at the same time, thereby also causing bioerosion./ photo provided by C.Schönberg Cliona delitrix in the Florida Keys. photo provided by C.Schönberg A flat piece of coral totally suffused with sponge tissue, probably a Cliothosa species in Dongsha Atoll, Taiwan./ photo provided by C.Schönberg Pione species sponge cause small and more discrete erosion chambers in coral skeleton in Dongsha Atoll, Taiwan./ photo provided by C.Schönberg Fish bite marks on the surface of dead corals in Dongsha Atoll, Taiwan. The photo shows the sponge in cross section after the substrate was chiseled open. Cliothosa makes large holes on the substrate surface that are closed with plugs of about 0.5 cm across that are densely filled with spicules and lead to wide connecting tunnels and to large, internal bioerosion chambers. Here she is holding the purple cup sponge Spheciospongia purpurea./ photo provided by C.Schönberg Professor Schönberg previously worked on the Great Barrier Reef, measuring the penetration depth of Cliona orientalis, a brown bioeroding sponge, and taking core samples with an air-driven drill./ photo provided by C.Schönberg Professor Schönberg previously worked on the Great Barrier Reef, measuring the penetration depth of Cliona orientalis, a brown bioeroding sponge, and taking core samples with an air-driven drill./ photo provided by C.Schönberg A sponge individual penetrating coral at Green Island, Taiwan, the brown and yellow tissue extending into the coral skeleton./ photo provided by C.Schönberg The yellow sponge is a Cliothosa species, a group that is very common around Dongsha Atoll. Her research area includes benthic invertebrates, bioerosion, effects of environmental change, and biodiversity. She has been researching bioeroding sponges for over 25 years. ![]() Associate Professor Christine Schönberg of the Department of Oceanography, Division of Marine Biology. ![]()
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