Hydrodynamic entanglement in the abyss: Morphological adaptations of groups of Euplectella aspergillum
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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Measuring Photophysiology of Attached Stage of Colacium sp. by a Cuvette-Type Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer
Published on: November 12, 2021
Giacomo Falcucci1,2, Ourania Giannopoulou1, Paolo Proia1
1Department of Enterprise Engineering "Mario Lucertini", University of Rome "Tor Vergata", 00133 Rome, Italy.
Abstract:
Euplectella aspergillum is a deep-sea glass sponge that has attracted the interest of the scientific community for almost 150 years, for its surprising adaptations to the asperities of the abyss. The state-of-the-art on this organism focuses on specimens in isolation, but field observations question this premise. Footage from the abyss shows instances in which E. aspergillum live in bouquets comprising several organisms. Through high performance computing of the flow physics of E. aspergillum, we discover a complex hydrodynamic entanglement that favors downstream organisms at no cost to upstream ones. Such an interaction benefits the nutrition, reproduction, and resilience of the bouquet-the first instance of a hydrodynamic advantage that emerges due to purely passive interactions in a group.
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