NOAA Scientists Identify Nine New Deep-Sea Sponge Species off Alaska
NOAA scientists have described nine new deep-sea sponge species from the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands, raising Alaska's known sponge total to 232 as mining and trawling plans raise habitat concerns.
The specimens were collected during NOAA Fisheries' annual bottom-trawl surveys, which monitor groundfish and shellfish stocks. Researchers analyzed samples gathered as far back as 2012 and described the new species in two recent scientific papers, The Guardian reported.
Sponges are among Earth's earliest multicellular animals, dating back more than 600 million years. They have no brain or complex organs and are often described as living water pumps, filtering seawater and building structure on the seafloor.
"Sponges are ecologically important," said Sean Rooney, a NOAA fisheries biologist and co-author of the studies at the agency's Alaska Fisheries Science Center. "They aren't plants, but like trees in a forest, they provide complex structure along the seafloor that creates habitat and refuge for commercially important fish and crabs."
Rooney said each new species opens new doors. "Deep water is hard to access, especially rocky places we can't reach with bottom-trawl surveys. There are now more than 232 identified species of sponges in Alaska, and probably hundreds more that we don't know about yet. The future in this field is exciting," he said.
Sponges are harder to distinguish than most marine animals, which can be identified by visible traits such as fins and body shapes. Lacking complex organs and other distinctive external features, they are often identified through their microscopic skeletons and genetic material.
"DNA barcodes provide a quick genetic reference," said Meredith Everett, a biologist at NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center. "Sponge DNA can be tricky because they filter-feed, and within their tissues we may find foreign DNA and biochemicals that inhibit testing. But despite the challenges, we successfully developed several new barcodes for Alaskan species."
NOAA considers dense sponge communities essential fish habitat because the shelter they provide supports fish survival, growth and population recovery. Sponges also produce chemicals to defend themselves against predators and competing organisms, and some of those compounds have shown promise for potential use in cancer treatments.
Alaska's deep-sea sponge communities face growing threats from proposals by Donald Trump to expand deep-sea mining for critical minerals such as nickel and copper, used in military and technological applications, as well as from bottom trawling in the region. Environmental groups have opposed the proposals, warning that the activities could damage fragile seafloor ecosystems as the climate crisis intensifies.
Cooper Freeman, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said Alaska's sponge gardens provide shelter and serve as nurseries for fish and crabs. "Bottom trawl fishing is so damaging and unsustainable because it indiscriminately destroys the habitats that support future generations. Adding seafloor mining to the picture adds insult to injury, scraping up and devastating life on the bottom of the ocean," he said.
"Instead of stewarding Alaska's precious sponge gardens so they can support Alaskan coastal communities and wildlife, the Trump administration is pushing extractive marine activities on these irreplaceable seascapes for nothing but short-term profit," Freeman added.
Beyond Alaska, the administration has proposed exploring deep-sea mining across millions of hectares of Pacific ecosystems, including areas around the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, a plan that has drawn backlash from the US territories.
Editor's Summary
NOAA announced the identification of nine new deep-sea sponge species off Alaska, based on specimens collected during bottom-trawl surveys and analyzed in two recent papers, lifting the state's known total to 232. Sponges filter seawater and form seafloor habitat that NOAA classifies as essential for commercially important fish and crabs. Environmental groups warn that proposed deep-sea mining for nickel and copper, along with bottom trawling, could damage those communities in Alaska and across the Pacific.