knob sponge Inflatella belli

Inflatella belli is found throughout Antarctica, Falkland Islands, Kerguelen Island, New Zealand, and South Africa at depths from 18 to 506 meters [1,3,8,10]. The body of I. belli is rounded or pear-shaped, may be irregularly constricted, and has long, tubular papillae up to 2.5 centimeters long with oscules and pores at the widened tip [6,7,9]. The surface of I. belli is smooth, wrinkled, or bristly and has pores [6,7]. I. belli is fixed by a peduncle to rock or hard surface [7]. Color of I. belli is light gray, greenish brown, yellowish brown, or yellow; interior color can be yellowish [6,7,9,10].



Maximum height of Inflatella belli is fourteen centimeters; a large specimen was measured at fourteen centimeters by twelve centimeters by six centimeters [5,6]. One I. belli showed no growth in ten years; another thirty-eight showed no growth for three years [4].


Inflatella belli may host diatoms within its food- capturing cells that line the passages through which the sponge circulates water; these endobiont diatoms live by consuming carbohydrates produced by the sponge and also by photosynthesis [11,12]. Diatoms produce large amounts of polysaccharids, thus giving the sponge an alternative food source during food-scarce periods [12]. This symbiotic adaptation by the diatoms enhances their survival in the low light levels found down deep under the ice (as well as the dark months of winter) [11,12].

An extract from I. belli has antibacterial and antiyeast activity [2].

1: B.A.N.Z. Antarctic Research Expedition, 1929-1931, under the command of Sir Douglas Mawson ..., Reports -- Series B (Zoology and Botany). Volume 9, part 4. Porifera -- Part 1: Antarctic Sponges. VM Koltun. Adelaide : Mawson Institute for Antarctic Research, University of Adelaide, 1976; 2: Antarctic Science 4(2):179-183, 1992; 3: Hooper, JNA & Wiedenmayer, F. Porifera. IN: Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 12. Wells, A, ed. Melbourne : CSIRO Australia, 1994; 4: Biologie des Spongiaires, Sponge Biology. C Levi and N Boury-Esnault, eds. Colloques Internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Number 291. Paris : Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1979. pp.271-282; 5: Non-calcareous Sponges. M Burton. Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-1914, Scientific Reports. Series C, Zoology and Botany. Volume 9, Part 5. Sydney : David Harold Paisley, Government Printer, 1938; 6: Sponges of the Antarctic. I. Tetraxonida and Cornacuspongida. VM Koltun. IN: Biological reports of the Soviet Antarctic Expedition, 1955-1958 (Rezultaty biologicheskikh issledovanii Sovetskoi antarkticheskoi ekspeditsii, 1955-1958). Volume 2. EP Pavlovskii, ed. Jerusalem : Israel Program for Scientific Translations. 1966. pp.6-131; Appendix, Index of Latin Names on pp. 443-448; 7: Ross Sea Expeditions 1987-1988 and 1989-1990, Straits of Magellan Expedition 1991, Data Report Part 3, Physical, Chemical and Biological Oceanography. F Faranda and L Guglielmo, eds. Genova : Repubblica Italiana, Ministry of the University and Scientific and Technological Research, National Scientific Commision for Antarctica, 1994. pp.67-100; 8: Polar Biology 12:559-585, 1992; 9: Les Demosponges du Plateau Continental de Kerguelen-Heard. N Boury-Esnault & M Van Beveren. CNFRA Number 52, 1982. Paris : Comite National Francais pour les Recherches Antarctiques; 10: Tethys Supplement 4:9-24, 1972; 11: Biological Bulletin 198:29-33, 2000; 12: Ross Sea Ecology : Italiantartide Expeditions (1987-1995). FM Faranda, L Guglielmo, A Ianora, eds. Berlin : Springer, 2000. pp. 551- 561

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