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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, September 23, 2001

Hawai'i Nature Squad
Freshwater sponge takes on varied forms

By the Hawai'i Nature Center

The freshwater sponge can attach itself to rocks and also breaks apart easily.

Mike Yamamoto

Another chapter in the continuing adventures of the Hawai'i Nature Squad as it investigates mysteries and wonders in the environment

"Look out!" yelled Detective Naniha as a plastic grocery bag came tumbling down the Kamo'oali'i Stream in Kane'ohe. Her partner, Detective Nakea, ducked out of the way just in time as the bag floated past.

"Thanks, that was close. I don't want to get caught in that stuff again," sighed Detective Nakea. The two Hawai'i Nature Squad detectives from the Aquatics Division, who were both o'opu, or gobies, were searching for the native freshwater sponge that lives in Hawai'i streams. Detective Andy Anole had faxed in a request for the pair, who made up the squad's Native Stream Team, to investigate the strange animal.

Detective Naniha searched the stream bed for clues. A pair of ominous looking eyes peered at her from beneath a rock.

"Excuse me," she announced as she flashed her badge. A native 'opae, or prawn, emerged, its one long, skinny pincher leading the way, followed by a pair of thin, probing antenna, and finally, its head and segmented body.

"What brings you native stream fishes here?" asked the prawn.

Detective Nakea answered: "We are looking for a freshwater sponge that lives around here. Our sources said to look in the middle reaches of this stream. Can you help us?"

The prawn looked a bit puzzled. "You mean a living sponge? Can you describe it?" she asked.

Detective Naniha read the description, "It starts out as a low encrusting form, bright green to light olive brown. It can attach itself to rocks. In still water, it assumes a more branching form. Usually two or three inches long. It breaks apart easily when handled."

The prawn answered. "Sounds like something I've seen around here. I think I noticed some near that boulder over there."

She led them to a calmer part of the stream. "There," she pointed to a coral-like cluster swaying with the current of the stream. "I noticed smaller pieces had broken off the larger one, and now it seems like those smaller pieces are growing," she continued.

The detectives hovered over the suspect sponge and gently landed next to it. Naniha brushed up against the animal and felt its soft body. They could hear a tiny voice calling out. Detective Nakea reached into his Curiosty Kit and put on his hydrophones, which could help him understand what underwater creatures say.

The tiny voice said, "Hello! We hear you've been looking for us. Well, we are a very simple life form. We survive by eating fine particulate matter from the water. Our cousins in the ocean are more common than us freshwater species."

The amazed o'opu relayed the information to his partner. "Well, it looks as if we found our Hawaiian stream sponge," proclaimed Detective Naniha.

The detective duo thanked the 'opae for her help, and she crawled away in search of her next meal.

"Just goes to show how special our streams are," Detective Naniha thought to herself. "There are a lot of neat things living here."

"Hawai'i Nature Squad" is written by Kim Welch, Kelly Perry and Ati Jeffers-Fabro of Hawai'i Nature Center, an environmental education organization.