Stung by a Sponge

ccole · Apr 11, 2023

I brushed up against a black sponge today moving coral and I’m pretty sure it stung me. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have quite a bit of it in my tank and have touched them/pulled them out with no ill effects. This one left a pretty good welt.

Sorry in advance for the low quality photo, they grow mostly in the dark.

i cant think · Apr 11, 2023

ccole said:
I brushed up against a black sponge today moving coral and I’m pretty sure it stung me. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have quite a bit of it in my tank and have touched them/pulled them out with no ill effects. This one left a pretty good welt.

Sorry in advance for the low quality photo, they grow mostly in the dark.

View attachment 3105001

Out of curiosity, did it hit the skin between your fingers?
I’ve only ever personally felt stings where the skin is thinner to the touch. Could you have also brushed against a fire/bristle worm?

ccole · Apr 11, 2023

i cant think said:
Out of curiosity, did it hit the skin between your fingers?
I’ve only ever personally felt stings where the skin is thinner to the touch. Could you have also brushed against a fire/bristle worm?

Nope, the top of my finger.

It left no bristles behind so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a bristleworm.

Interestingly enough, those particular sponges have bothered my corals before. If they get within touching distance, the coral starts to act strange and close up so I would prune the sponges back. I’ve never been stung before though until last night.

Devaji · Apr 11, 2023

never heard of that before? wonder if anyway can identify the sponge?

ISpeakForTheSeas · Apr 11, 2023

There are a few sponges known to "sting" (cause contact dermatitis), including a handful not listed below:
-Red-beard sponge (Micronia prolifera)
-Fire sponge (Tedania ignis)
-Tedania anhelans
-Touch-me-not sponge (Neofibularia nolitangere)
-Neofibularia mordens
-Poison-bun sponges (Fibulila spp.)
-Theonella mirabilis

While these sponges are not common in our aquaria (so it's somewhat unlikely you have one), most sponges (and most sessile inverts in the ocean, including many corals) produce chemicals which - to my limited medical knowledge - could potentially cause a similar reaction as one of the truly toxic ones if you were allergic to them.

Sponges that commit chemical warfare against corals are pretty well equally uncommon in our aquaria.

That said, a cryptic sponge (one that preferentially grows in the dark) is an unlikely candidate to be irritating corals chemically, so it's interesting that you report that happening here - I believe that it's happening, it's just rather unusual. (Cryptic sponges don't typically compete with photosynthetic corals in nature, so there's just no real reason for them to produce chemicals which would inhibit coral growth.)

While there's no guarantee that we'd be able to ID it with a good picture (a lot of sponge ID's require careful examination of the spicules/DNA testing), do you think you could shine a flashlight on it to get it lit up well and then take some pics of the sponge (both some zoomed out to show the whole specimen and some zoomed in to show some detail if possible)?

ccole · Apr 11, 2023

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
There are a few sponges known to "sting" (cause contact dermatitis), including a handful not listed below:
-Red-beard sponge (Micronia prolifera)
-Fire sponge (Tedania ignis)
-Tedania anhelans
-Touch-me-not sponge (Neofibularia nolitangere)
-Neofibularia mordens
-Poison-bun sponges (Fibulila spp.)
-Theonella mirabilis

While these sponges are not common in our aquaria (so it's somewhat unlikely you have one), most sponges (and most sessile inverts in the ocean, including many corals) produce chemicals which - to my limited medical knowledge - could potentially cause a similar reaction as one of the truly toxic ones if you were allergic to them.

Sponges that commit chemical warfare against corals are pretty well equally uncommon in our aquaria.

That said, a cryptic sponge (one that preferentially grows in the dark) is an unlikely candidate to be irritating corals chemically, so it's interesting that you report that happening here - I believe that it's happening, it's just rather unusual. (Cryptic sponges don't typically compete with photosynthetic corals in nature, so there's just no real reason for them to produce chemicals which would inhibit coral growth.)

While there's no guarantee that we'd be able to ID it with a good picture (a lot of sponge ID's require careful examination of the spicules/DNA testing), do you think you could shine a flashlight on it to get it lit up well and then take some pics of the sponge (both some zoomed out to show the whole specimen and some zoomed in to show some detail if possible)?

Sure, I can get a better picture.

I’m fairly sure it was a sting. The initial contact felt like a tingle. I washed my hand off, soaked it in vinegar, and it swelled and itched.

Here’s a picture of the sponge bothering one of my torches before I pulled it up. I can’t be 100% sure it is the cause of the irritation, but the torch stopped closing up like that as soon as I trimmed it back. The torch would fold up where it contacted the sponge.

Fishy888 · Apr 11, 2023

ccole said:
Sure, I can get a better picture.

I’m fairly sure it was a sting. The initial contact felt like a tingle. I washed my hand off, soaked it in vinegar, and it swelled and itched.

Here’s a picture of the sponge bothering one of my torches before I pulled it up. I can’t be 100% sure it is the cause of the irritation, but the torch stopped closing up like that as soon as I trimmed it back. The torch would fold up where it contacted the sponge. View attachment 3105389

That’s a beautiful torch! That said I would love to have some of these in my system. I love the branching pattern. I don’t think I’d like to be stung or have corals irritated by them.

Devaji · Apr 11, 2023

so curious to see how this plays out. such a beautiful sponge. I hope it's not the stinging type as i want a frag.

ccole · Apr 11, 2023

Devaji said:
so curious to see how this plays out. such a beautiful sponge. I hope it's not the stinging type as i want a frag.

I have it all over. I don't know if it can be fragged and live but I can send you some if it can.

ccole · Apr 11, 2023

Here’s some more pictures.

Still not the best, it’s surprisingly hard to photograph. It seems to be able to grow both black and white.

Spare time · Apr 11, 2023

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
There are a few sponges known to "sting" (cause contact dermatitis), including a handful not listed below:
-Red-beard sponge (Micronia prolifera)
-Fire sponge (Tedania ignis)
-Tedania anhelans
-Touch-me-not sponge (Neofibularia nolitangere)
-Neofibularia mordens
-Poison-bun sponges (Fibulila spp.)
-Theonella mirabilis

While these sponges are not common in our aquaria (so it's somewhat unlikely you have one), most sponges (and most sessile inverts in the ocean, including many corals) produce chemicals which - to my limited medical knowledge - could potentially cause a similar reaction as one of the truly toxic ones if you were allergic to them.

Sponges that commit chemical warfare against corals are pretty well equally uncommon in our aquaria.

That said, a cryptic sponge (one that preferentially grows in the dark) is an unlikely candidate to be irritating corals chemically, so it's interesting that you report that happening here - I believe that it's happening, it's just rather unusual. (Cryptic sponges don't typically compete with photosynthetic corals in nature, so there's just no real reason for them to produce chemicals which would inhibit coral growth.)

While there's no guarantee that we'd be able to ID it with a good picture (a lot of sponge ID's require careful examination of the spicules/DNA testing), do you think you could shine a flashlight on it to get it lit up well and then take some pics of the sponge (both some zoomed out to show the whole specimen and some zoomed in to show some detail if possible)?