Diving into the world of sea sponges with Professor James Bell

<p>James Bell is a Professor of Marine Biology at Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka, and a huge fan of sea sponges. Check out his colourful underwater photos and videos on his Instagram page, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sponge_ecology/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠@sponge_ecology⁠</a>, where he has over 40,000 followers. </p><p>James has scuba dived around the world researching this ancient, vibrant, intriguing, but sometimes overlooked marine species. (We both agree that charismatic megafauna – e.g. dolphins, whales, sharks – often get a disproportionate amount of attention.)</p><p>In this episode we talk about the characteristics and role of sea sponges, where you can find them, and how they&#39;re responding to marine heatwaves and increased levels of sedimentation (e.g. Wellington&#39;s current wastewater treatment plant disaster). </p><p>James also talks about life as a marine biologist: diving in some of the world&#39;s coolest places, teaching the next generation of marine scientists, and sharing information to help people better understand and advocate for our underwater world.</p><p><strong>Glossary: </strong></p><p>Nudibranch: soft-bodied marine gastropods (sea slugs)</p><p>Bioactive: something that has a biological effect on living organisms</p><p>Spicules: needle-like elements produced by sponges to provide structural support and protection against predators</p><p>Glass sponges: sponges with skeletons made out of spicules (see above)</p><p><em>Image: James&#39;s award-winning &#39;sponge point of view&#39; photo taken with an Insta360 camera from </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DM3WIDUhugI/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"><em>inside a barrel sponge</em></a><em> in Indonesia. (James Bell)</em></p><p>*</p><p>Visit <a href="https://stokednz.co.nz/SWIMCHATS">⁠StokedNZ⁠</a> for your towelies and get 15% off at checkout with the code SWIMCHATS </p><p>Support the podcast via ⁠⁠<a href="https://patreon.com/SwimChats?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/SwimChats⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/swimchats" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Swim Chats on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p>Contact me at swimchatswithshona at gmail dot com</p><p>Hit &#39;Follow&#39; so you don&#39;t miss an episode. </p><p>Thanks for listening! :-)</p>