The importance of water flow for culture of Dysidea avara sponges

Sponges are good sources of bioactive compounds for possible development as potential new pharmaceuticals. But man cannot responsibly harvest these slow-growing and sometimes rare organisms from the sea, since source populations and ecosystem may be threatened. Chemical synthesis is not always possible due to molecular complexity, so presently other sustainable production technologies such as sponge cell culture and transgenic fermentation of sponge-specific microbes are in development (or in the research phases). Aquaculture, either in-the-sea or in tanks is an available technology that can fill the gap until the more sophisticated technologies are proven. The aim of this research is to understand the water flow requirements for the marine demosponge, Dysidea avara, so that flow parameters can be set for ex situ culture of the sponge in tanks, or in situ aquaculture in the sea for obtaining biomass for extraction of its valuable anti-inflammatory and anti-viral natural product avarol.