Abstract
MANY marine organisms etch calcareous substrata1. Indeed sponges, mainly of the genus Cliona, are important factors in the erosion of calcareous coasts2,3. Among terrestrial organisms, only a few lichens are known to penetrate siliceous rocks4,5, an ability unknown in the animal kingdom. The Demospongiae have a siliceous skeleton formed by spicules6 of various shapes and sizes, but several species also incorporate sand grains or foreign spicules7,8. The demosponge Chondrosia reniformis Nardo has no autochtonous spicules but incorporates a wide range of foreign materials in its ectosome9,10. Here we report that quartz particles are strongly etched and made uniform in size, quickly and with sharp selectivity, the hydrated silica (chalcedony and opal) remaining unaltered. The presence of a thick collagenous ectosome11 suggests that ascorbic acid, the reducing agent in proline hydroxylation, might be involved in quartz etching by C. reniformis.
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Bavestrello, G., Arillo, A., Benatti, U. et al. Quartz dissolution by the sponge Chondrosia reniformis (Porifera, Demospongiae). Nature 378, 374–376 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/378374a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/378374a0
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