Phylum Porifera (CH.

4)
- Pore bearing
- First metazoan phylum we'll discuss
- These are sponges
- Possesses epitheliod and connective tissue
- Lacks true muscle and nervous tissue
- ~8000 species, most but not all are marine
– Primitive, sessile filter feeders
– Most sponges are asymmetrical
– Some display some radial symmetry
– Can be Branching or Crusting formation on a substratum

Porifera
1. Sponges are the simplest multi-cellular organisms, but they lack the germ layers of more
complex metazoans
2. Have a cellular level of organization lacking true issues and organs
3. Body is a mass of cells embedded in a gelatinous matrix called the Mesohyl which is supported
by a framework of spicules, as well as collagen and spongin fibers
1. Spicules form the stiffening skeletal structure of the sponge and may be made of calcium
carbonate, silica or spongin [collagen]
Body Plan
1. Cellular sponges have two primitive primary tissues
1. Epithelioid – Resembles the epithelium
2. Mesohyl – Connective tissue middle layer
1. Two specific types of epithelioid tissue:
1. Pinacoderm: lines outside
2. Choanoderm – choanocytes posses a flagellum and a collar of microvilli
1. Choanocytes engage in filter feeding. One end is imbibed in the Mesohyl and
the other end protrudes
2. The protruding end of the choanocyte has a flagellum that moves through a mesh
like collar where small particles are trapped
2. Porocytes: Tubular cells that form tubes through the wall of the sponge and allow water
to flow into the central chamber
3. Archaeocytes: move around within the Mesohyl. They are ameboid in appearance and
carry out several tasks
1. Phagocytize particles
2. Specialized archaeocytes secrete spicules
4. Totipotency
1. Sponge possess several different types of cells, similar to stem cells
2. All sponge cells are totipotent and can give rise to any other types of cell
3. A single cell can give rise to a new sponge or can self assemble with other cells into
a sponge. (A sponge separated into its constituent cells will spontaneously
reassemble)
5. Porifera feeding
1. Sponges are sessile and move, and depend on the water movement to bring in food
and oxygen and remove wastes. (Some can move but very slowly)
2. Sponges generate their own flow of water having a unique water current system
 3. Water enters through small pores called ostia and exits through fewer, larger oscula
1. Ostia are connected by a series of canals, which are lines by the choanocytes (the
flagellated collar cells)
2. Maintains the current to filter out food particles
3. The choanocyte's collar consists of microwvilli joined together by delicate
microfibrils
4. The beating of the flagellum draws water through the collar and out the top
5. Particles too big to pass through the collar get trapped In mucus and slide down
the collar to the base where they are phagocytized
6. Sponges can filter enormous volumes of water as much as 20,000 times the
volume of the sponge in 24 hours
7. Sponges mostly consume bacteria and may filter as much as 90% of those
passing through
6. Sponges can have endosymbiots
1. Many posses photosynthetic properties
1. Cyanobacteria
2. Dinoflagellates
3. Chlorophytes
2. Symbionts may cause sponges to become brightly colored
3. Sponges must live in shallow water to photosynthesize
4. Some obtain up to 80% of their nutrients from photosynthate
7. Carnivorous Sponges
1. A few sponges, however, capture small prey such as crustaceans using spicules
2. They act like velcro to hold the pray on long filaments
3. cells then surround and digest the prey extracellularly, outside the body
8. Locomotion
1. Some have limited capacity for locomotion
1. Can move 1-4mm per day
2. Result of collected ameoboid movement of cells
3. Osculum contraction
4. Whole body contraction
9. Internal transport
1. Gas and Waste transport is carried out via simple diffusion
1. Sponges are “leaky” so water penetrates almost the entire animal
2. Ammonia is the main metabolic waste
3. Archaeocytes transfer wastes/nutrients
4. Some individual cells posses contractile vacuoles
10. Reproduction
1. Sponges are excellent regenerators
2. Reproduce clonally through various methods (ASEXUAL)
1. Fragmentation – usually due to wave damage or grazing
2. Budding – New individuals form, then fell off the original
3. Gemmules (winter bodies) – spore like structures that are essentially a mass of
nutrient laden archaeocytes that are surrounded by a shell. Undergo diapause
3. Sponges also frequently reproduce sexually
1. Sponges are hermaphrodites
2. Germ cells occur through mesohyl
1. Choanocytes can also release sperm and form eggs
2. Sperm are broadcasted into water column (Broadcast spawners)
 3. Choanocytes phagocytize incoming sperm but dont digest it
4. They differentiate into an amoeboid cell and deliver sperm to egg cell
5. Zygote cells invert to become a free swimming larvae
6. Larvae are short lived
1. Settle within a few days
2. Creep across substrate until a suitable spot is found
3. Metamorphose into a juvenile
7. Varied lifespans
1. May live one to a few years in temperate zones
2. Tropical or deep sea spp. May live 200 years or more
3. Some only grow 0.2 mm/yr, and that could be 5000 years old if that
growth rate is constant
3. Most sponges have one of three types of canal system:
1. Aesconoid:
1. Simplest system
2. Water enters through pores into a large central avity (spongocoel) which
is lined with choanocytes. There is one single large osculum
2. Synconoid:
1. There is still a single spongocoel and osculum
2. Much more surface area and complex structures
3. The lining of the spongocoel is folded back to make raidal canals lines
with choanocytes
4. Leuconoid: The most complex and permits an increase in sponge size
1. Most leuconoids form large masses with numerous oscula
2. Clusters of choanocyte-lined chambers receive water from narrow incurrent
canals/direct water to osculum. There is no spongocoel
5. Canal Systems
1. The different grades of sponge canal complexity do not imply an
evolutionary sequence as the leuconoid form has developed independantly
numerous times within different types of sponges
2. The leuconoid plans offers the significant advantage of increasing the
proportion of flagellated cells relative to total sponge volume
6. Groups of sponges
1. There are three classes of sponges
1. Class Calcarea
2. Class Hexactinellidia
3. Class Demospongiaee
2. Calcarea
1. Calcarous sponges whose spicules are made of calcium carbonate. The
spicules are straight or have 3-4 rays.
2. Calcium Carbonate: CaCO3
3. Tend to be small (<10cm) are tubular or vase shaped
4. May be asconoid, synconoid, or leuconoid in structur
3. Hexactinellidia (glass sponges)
1. Skeleton is made of six-rayed siliceous spicules bound in a glasslike
lattice
2. Nearly all are deep sea forms
4. Demospongiae
1. The demospongiae include about 80% of all species and include the
 various freshwater forms. Spicules are siliceous and are often very
elaborate
2. All members are leuconoid and most of the large sponges are members of
Demospongiae
5. Ecology
1. Many produce toxins to prevent predation
2. Some animals are spongivores
1. Nudibranchs
2. Fish
3. Turtes
3. Some releaser chemicals that kill competing sessile organisms such as
corals
4. some animals such as shrimps and brittle stars live in sponges
5. Decorator crabs may place sponges on their carapaces