Data from: Suspended sediment causes feeding current arrests in the glass sponge Aphrocallistes vastus

While increased suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) are known to cause glass sponges to arrest filtration in lab studies, the response of sponges to sediment in situ is not yet known. Here we describe arrest behaviours in response to increased SSCs recorded from the glass sponge Aphrocallistes vastus at the Fraser Ridge sponge reef in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada.

We identified 23 arrests of the sponges’ feeding current during experimental disturbances that raised SSC to between 10 and 80 mg l-1. Single arrests lasted 4.25 ± 1.3 min (± SD) and were characterized by a 2 cm s-1 reduction in feeding current lasting 0.5 - 3 min (mean 1.91 ± 0.97 min, n = 19). In comparison, coughing arrests varied in length (31 ± 22.89 min) and lasted 4 - 15 min (10.46 ± 5.26 min, n = 4).