Temperature and spatiotemporal variability of salicylihalamide A in the sponge Haliclona sp. in southern Western Australia

Since the discovery of the sponge Haliclona sp. at Rottnest Island in 1989, new populations have been identified in southern Western Australia, at locations Bremer Bay, Hamelin Bay and Jurien Bay. Samples from these four locations were collected and investigated for the production of the bioactive compound salicylihalamide A. These collections represent a sponge distribution that covers 1,200km of the coastline. During collection, the depth of each sponge, water temperature and sponge size was also recorded.

Two morphologies of the original songe have been identified, one with a deep green coloration, the second with a brown coloration. Chemical extraction and analysis was conducted to determine the concentration of the salicylihalamide A compound, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra violet (UV) detection and mass spectrometry (MS). Correlations between the concentration of the compound and water temperature, size and depth of the sponge sample origin was also examined.

The objectives of this research were

1. to determine whether both morphologies of Haliclona sp. produce salicylihalamide A
2. to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of salicylihalamide A production in Haliclona sp.