Venus' Flower Basket
{{Taxobox
color = pink | name = Venus' Flower Basket | image = Venus Flower Basket.jpg | image_width = 200px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Porifera | classis = Hexactenellida | familia = Euplectellidae | genus = Euplectella | species = E. aspergillum | binomial = Euplectella aspergillum | binomial_authority = Owen, 1841
The Venus' Flower Basket, or Euplectella aspergillum, is the only Poriferan in the class Hexactenellida to be used in hobbyists' aquariums. This is because Hexactinellid sponges are mainly deep ocean sponges that are not suitable for domestic aquarium environments. In traditional Asian cultures, this particular sponge was given as a wedding gift due to the fact that certain bioluminescent shrimp tend to form a symbiosis with them. The sponge houses two small shrimp, a male and a female, who live out their lives inside the sponge. They breed, and when their offspring are tiny, the offspring escape to find a Venus Flower Basket of their own. The shrimp inside of the basket clean it, and in return, the basket provides food for the shrimp by trapping it in its fiberglass-like strands, and then releasing it into the body of the sponge for the shrimp. It is also speculated that the light given off by the shrimp may attract other small organisms which the shrimp eat.
They were also extremely popular in Victorian England, and one could easily fetch five guineas, equivalent to over £3,000 today.
The glassy fibers that attach the sponge to the ocean floor, 5-20 cm long and thin as human hair, are of interest to fiber optics researchers. They hope to learn how this sponge produces these flexible fibers. The current manufacturing process for optical fibers requires high temperatures and produces a brittle fiber. A low-temperature process could offer more control over the optical properties of the fibers.*[1] "Glassy sponge has better fiber optics than man-made", William McCall, AP, August 20, 2003
*[2] "Biological glass fibers: Correlation between optical and structural properties" Joanna Aizenberg et al. PNAS 2004
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