OF ALL the animals in the sea, sponges seem to be among the least sophisticated. But appearances can be deceptive: the spines of some sponges act as fibre-optic cables, channelling light towards algae that grow deep inside their bodies, say researchers in Italy.
Sponges have rudimentary skeletons made of needle-like structures, called spicules, which give the animal support. But Ricardo Cattaneo-Vietti, a zoologist at the University of Genoa, and his team wondered whether spicules have another role when they spotted green algae thriving inside the bodies of certain sponges.
The researchers examined
The researchers bent the spicules through 90 degrees, then shone red laser light into them. "All the spicules remained red," says Cattaneo-Vietti. This shows that much of the light did ...
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