This is the first Phylum we study in Kingdom Animalia.

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Animals without true tissues Phylum
PORIFERA

• This is the first Phylum we study in Kingdom
  Animalia.
• The word Porifera literally translates to mean
  Pore Bearer

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SPONGES in GENERAL

• Sessile, majority are marine.
• Once thought to be plants
• No true tissues or organs
• Specialized cells Choanocytes, Porocytes,
  Amoebocytes.
• No nervous or muscles tissue

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FILTER FEEDING

• Collar cells (Choanocytes) line the inside of the
  sponges body.
• Flagellum of these collar cells create a current
  to bring water into the sponge.
• Water carries food for the sponge.
• Water exits through the top of the sponge this is
  called the OSCULUM.

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Special Cells or Structures in Sponges

• Collar cells (Choanocytes) flagellated aid in
  digestion.
• Amoebocytes also aid in digestion, can move
  around in the wall of the sponge!
• Spicules a structural material glasslike
  makes the sponge very distasteful for things that
  might want to eat it.

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Reproduction

• Sponges are hermaphrodites
• They produce both male and female gametes but
  only one at a time.
• When the egg is fertilized the zygote develops
  into a free-swimming larva.
• The larva attaches to the bottom and undergoes
  metamorphosis to become a mature sponge.
• Sponges can also reproduce asexually by branching
  or budding, and some freshwater sponges form use
  GEMMULEformation.

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Ecological Role of Sponges

• Shelter smaller organisms
• Symbiosis with bacteria and plantlike protists
  provide food and oxygen and remove wastes.
• Recycle calcium trapped in coral and shells
  amoebocytes release special chemicals in
  digestion.
• Research into sponge chemicals for new medicines
  and much needed antibiotics.

Purple Tube Sponge Colony on Dead Coralhead
atRainbow Reef near Bimini, The Bahamas
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Well meet Squidward later on in the course !