EVALUATION OF THE FEEDING DETERRENT POTENTIAL OF CRUDE ORGANIC EXTRACTS FROM FIFTEEN MARINE SPONGES

Abstract

Organisms have developed diverse mechanisms during their evolution, to defend themselves from predators and competitors, in order to ensure temporal permanence. One of these mechanisms is chemical defense. Chemical substances are used by some organisms to deter potential predators from devouring them. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the organic crude extracts of fifteen different marine sponges from the Colombian Caribbean to deter a potential predator, the generalist reef fish Stegastes partitus. It was found that Cribrochalina infundibulum extract acted as a feedingattractant to this particular predator, while only the extracts from Dragmacidon reticulata, Petromica cyocaliptoides, Neopetrosia proxima, Myrmekioderma gyroderma and Biemna cribaria were feeding deterrants; it was also observed that the latter three also presented apparent physical defenses, showing that chemical and physical defenses are not necessarily excluding.