Aquaculture of a sponge for bioactives
The marine sponge Mycale hentscheli, which is common throughout New Zealand’s coastal waters, has been the focus of research into the sustainable supply of potentially valuable anticancer drugs. NIWA and Victoria University scientists have been studying the ecology, taxonomy, and temporal and spatial patterns in chemistry to identify optimum environmental conditions for aquaculture of this species.
We have developed pilot aquaculture systems to take advantage of the sponge’s extraordinary ability to heal rapidly and reorganise aquiferous systems when damaged. Small cubes (3 cm3) are excised from the parent sponge, causing little damage, and placed into mesh lines. Growth rates for Mycale average a remarkable 3000% per annum and sponges can be harvested from lines leaving barely enough tissue to heal over and regrow for harvest the following year.
Although this species grows rapidly in most sheltered to semi-sheltered conditions, environmental conditions appear critical for the production of the desired compounds. Patterns in the chemistry of cultured sponges reflect those found in wild populations.
Aquaculture of Mycale for sustainable supply of bioactive compounds is clearly a commercially viable prospect in the medium term. Future research will be aimed at understanding the ecological role the compounds play, and identifying and localising sites of production and storage within the sponge.