Role: Hatching sponges

Trochospongilla leidyi were collected from the marina in Houma and gemmules were extracted, rinsed, and placed in media to hatch in an incubator. The aim of the project is to study the effect of heavy metals on sponge physiology. This will be done by transplanting the sponges into tanks once oscula are present, introducing a varying percentage of lead, and observing how the lead is distributed throughout the gemmules which the sponge produce.

Gemmules were digested with bleach to view megasclera and birotule characteristics in order to identify the sponge sample using a dichotomous key from the Porifera section of Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates: Keys to Nearctic Fauna.