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    Phylum - Porifera (Sponges)

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    FFenton
    Sponges are simple aquatic animals without tissues, organs, or a brain. They come in many species and shapes. Sponges live attached to the ocean floor in coastal waters, filter feeding by drawing in water and trapping particles. They reproduce both sexually, releasing sperm and eggs, and asexually through budding.

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    Phylum - Porifera (Sponges)

    Uploaded by

    FFenton
    37 views2 pages
    Sponges are simple aquatic animals without tissues, organs, or a brain. They come in many species and shapes. Sponges live attached to the ocean floor in coastal waters, filter feeding by drawing in water and trapping particles. They reproduce both sexually, releasing sperm and eggs, and asexually through budding.

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    Marines sponges iv

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    sponges

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    Sponges are simple aquatic animals without tissues, organs, or a brain. They come in many species and shapes. Sponges live attached to the ocean floor in coastal waters, filter feeding by drawing in water and trapping particles. They reproduce both sexually, releasing sperm and eggs, and asexually through budding.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    37 views2 pages

    Phylum - Porifera (Sponges)

    Uploaded by

    FFenton
    Sponges are simple aquatic animals without tissues, organs, or a brain. They come in many species and shapes. Sponges live attached to the ocean floor in coastal waters, filter feeding by drawing in water and trapping particles. They reproduce both sexually, releasing sperm and eggs, and asexually through budding.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    Phylum - Porifera (Sponges)

    There are many species of sponges (more than 5,000) and they come in all egg (zygote) develops into a blastula (several cells) with cilia for swimming
    shapes and sizes. They are mostly asymmetrical, though a few form radially and is then released into the seawater. This allows the sponge larva to move
    symmetrical shapes. They are very simple animals with no tissues, organs, or away from the parent and eventually settle onto the sea floor to mature.
    even a brain, but have specialized cells that perform their necessary nutritional,
    circulatory and reproductive functions. Sponges can be male or female (dioecious) or have both male and female
    sexual organs (monoecious). In extreme cases, when the environment is not
    Habitat: They are mostly found attached to the ocean floor in shallow coastal good for survival or reproduction, the sponge will produce small gemmules that
    waters, but some species live in freshwater habitats. will survive dormant until conditions are better for survival.

    Habits: They are sessile – they do not move around but spend their lives Asexual reproduction occurs through budding where small pieces of the sponge
    anchored to one place. Though sponges were once thought to be completely break off and form a new adult. This can result in massive colonies of sponges.
    sessile, scientists now know that some species can move very, very slowly. This also accounts for the sponge’s amazing regenerative abilities.

    Diet: They are filter feeders, taking in seawater and filtering out the edible mat-
    ter.

    Body Traits (Anatomy): Sponges made up of 2 body layers – an outer layer of


    epidermal cells and an inner layer of collar cells. The collar cells (choanocytes)
    trap food particles, while specialized ameboid cells (ameboctes) digest the par-
    ticles and transport the nutrients to other cells throughout the sponge. Between
    the two layers is a gelatinous matrix called mesohyl (or mesoglea) where the
    sponge’s “skeleton” forms. This simple skeleton is made up of tiny spicules that
    form from either calcium carbonate (calcareous) or silica (siliceous) depend-
    ing upon the species of sponge. There are also supportive collagen fibers called
    spongin.

    The sponge body is full of holes – thousands of cells, each with a tiny pore
    (porocytes) that brings seawater in through a small channel, called ostia, into
    the sponge’s central cavity called the spongocoel. Other specialized cells, called
    collar cells, line the inside of the central cavity. Collar cells have tiny hair-like
    flagella that act like propellers and draw the water in where it is filtered to
    remove all its organic particles. Once filtered, the water is pushed through an
    opening at the top of the sponge called the osculum.

    Reproduction: Sponges reproduce by both sexual and asexual means. Sexual


    reproduction occurs when a sponge releases its male gametes (spermatozoa)
    into the water and another sponge (or that same sponge) captures them using
    collar cells and they are transported to the egg for fertilization. The fertilized

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