National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
NOAA 
Fishery Bulletin 
@ established in 1881 << 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U.S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Abstract—Fisheries for Caribbean 
sponge species began in the mid-1800s 
and landings peaked around the early 
1900s before crashing because of a 
combination of overexploitation, dis- 
-ease, and hurricanes as well as, later, 
the introduction of artificial sponges. 
Still, artisanal sponge fisheries remain 
in Florida and areas of the Caribbean 
like The Bahamas, but none of those 
fisheries or the sponges upon which 
they depend are well studied. On the 
basis of data and information pub- 
lished by J. Storr in 1964 as well as of 
our own data, von Bertalanffy growth 
parameters were estimated for the 
most commercially valuable Caribbean 
sponge, the sheepswool sponge or wool 
sponge (Hippospongia lachne), along 
with related statistics, notably longev- 
ity. Also, morphological dimensional 
constraints that are likely to limit the 
supply of oxygen deep within this and 
other near-spherical sponge species are 
presented, along with the sponges’ evo- 
lutionary and ontogenic responses to 
these constraints. These considerations 
are also illustrated with data from spe- 
cies other than the wool sponge and 
are consistent with a general theory of 
growth for water-breathing ectotherms, 
the gill-oxygen limitation theory. The 
information provided herein should be 
useful for quantifying the ecosystem 
effect of sponge fisheries in Florida, 
The Bahamas, and elsewhere and for 
improving the management of sponge 
fisheries and mariculture worldwide. 
Manuscript submitted 27 October 2021. 
Manuscript accepted 11 March 2022. 
Fish. Bull. 120:99-112 (2022). 
Online publication date: 29 March 2022. 
doi: 10.7755/FB.120.2.1 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Growth and related traits of the sheepswool 
sponge (Hippospongia lachne): practical and 
theoretical considerations 
Daniel Pauly (contact author)' 
Nicola Smith? 
Mark Butler? 
Email address for contact author: d.pauly@oceans.ubc.ca 
"Sea Around Us 
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries 
University of British Columbia 
2202 Main Mall 
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 124, Canada 
2 Changing Oceans Research Unit 
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries 
University of British Columbia 
2202 Main Mall 
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 124, Canada 
This contribution addresses issues 
related to the growth, longevity, repro- 
duction, and respiration of sponges, with 
emphasis on the sheepswool sponge 
(Hippospongia lachne), also known as 
and henceforth referred to as the wool 
sponge, and to the roles of sponges in 
fisheries, ecosystems, and ecosystem 
models. Emphasis is given to the rela- 
tionship between growth and respiration 
in the wool sponge and other sponges 
because this issue is often overlooked in 
studies of water-breathing ectotherms 
(WBE), in which an appropriate supply 
of oxygen is as important for survival 
and growth as an appropriate amount of 
food (Pauly, 2021a). 
Our emphasis on respiration is incor- 
porated in the use of a growth curve, 
the von Bertalanffy growth function 
(VBGF) that is widely used in fisher- 
ies research and can be derived from 
the “dimensional tension” (Pauly and 
Cheung, 2017) between oxygen supply 
and demand in growing WBE. 
Sponges are important if underap- 
preciated components of marine eco- 
systems, including coral reefs where 
3 Institute of Environment and 
Department of Biological Sciences 
Florida International University 
3000 NE 151 Street, AC1-213 
North Miami, Florida 33181 
sponge diversity reaches its zenith 
(Diaz and Riitzler, 2001, 2011). Many 
ecological functions and_ services, 
including bentho-pelagic coupling 
through filtration and nutrient cycling 
(Valentine and Butler, 2019; Pawlik 
and McMurray, 2020), enhancement of 
habitat complexity (Herrnkind et al., 
1997), alterations in sediment structure 
(Neuweiler and Burdige, 2005), con- 
tribution to underwater soundscapes 
(Butler et al., 2016), provisioning of 
food for spongivorous species (Loh and 
Pawlik, 2014), and support of fisheries 
(Butler et al., 2017), are attributable to 
sponges and their associated microbi- 
omes (Bell, 2008; Bell et al., 2017). With 
respect to support of fisheries, some 
shallow-water species are, or have been, 
commercially exploited, notably the 
wool sponge, which is also farmed (Storr, 
1964; Osinga et al., 1999; McClenachan, 
2008) and grown for use in habitat res- 
toration (Butler et al., 2021). 
Despite there being over 1000 genera 
of marine sponges (de Voogd et al., 
2021; Palomares and Pauly, 2021), in 
the past, only 2 genera were fished 
