1 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Sponges

2 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Introduction Phylum Porifera “pore bearer” Aquatic and mostly marine Sessile Body can be stony, rubbery, or gelatinous Size range: few millimeters to five meters Radially symmetric or asymmetrical Jason Buchheim

3 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Structure Simplest form resembles a tube closed at the attached end and open at the other. Outer surface is called the pinacoderm (made up of pinacocyte cells) Pinacoderm has many porocytes (pores) which allow water to enter the sponge wall. The atrium opens to the outside through the osculum (large opening at top)

4 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Structure

5 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Structure Beneath the pinacoderm is the mesohyl (gelatinous matrix that contains support structures and amoebocytes) Body supported by calcareous or siliceous spicules (needle, rod, star shaped) and/or spongin fibers Atrium wall consists of choanocytes which create a flow of water through the sponge by beating their flagella As water flows in the amoebocytes pick up and distributes nutrients to the sponge.

6 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Structure Spongin Spicule

7 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Feeding Water flow created by choanocytes Water enters porocyte Nutrients picked up by amoebocytes Waste products deposited in water flow Water enters atrium Flow carries waste materials and water out the osculum

8 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Feeding Choanocyte

9 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Reproduction Many can regenerate Asexual and sexual reproduction Asexual by fragmentation and budding Sexual: Hermaphroditic Most fertilization is external Larvae is free swimming and attaches to a suitable hard surface after a few hours to several days later (two types) Changes into a sponge Parenchymella Larvae Amphiblastula Larvae

10 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Reproduction Releasing gametes

11 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Economic Harvested for bath sponges Anticancer biochemicals

12 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Body Types Asconoid (simplest) Syconoid Leuconoid (most complex) Body wall folding is the main difference between body types Body folding increases surface area: –Increases choanocyte layer and reduces the amount of water needed to filter –Increased turbulance puts more food in contact with amoebocytes –Enables the sponge to grow large because of the added nutrition

13 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Asconoid Simplest in form Cylindrical in shape No body wall folding

14 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Syconoid More complex than asconoid Mostly cylindrical in shape Some body wall folding Increase # of choanocytes Flagellated chamber

15 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Leuconoid Most complex Varied in shape Extreme body wall folding Greatly increases # of choanocytes

16 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Sponge Classes Class Calcarea Class Hexactinellida Class Demospongiae

17 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Class Calcarea Spicules composed of calcium carbonate No spongin Entirely marine Usually found in shallow water All three body types Typically less than 10 cm in height

18 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Calcarea

19 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Class Hexactinellida Called glass sponges Siliceous spicules Most symmetrical looking sponges Cup, vase, or urn-like in shape 10-30cm in height Inhabit deep water: 200m to 1000m Dominant sponge in the arctic Leuconoid body type

20 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Hexactinellida NOAA

21 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Class Demospongiae Siliceous spicules and/or spongin fibers Most are marine, FW sponges belong to this class 90% of sponges Leuconoid body type Inhabit shallow to deep water Irregular in shape Bath sponges belong in this class

22 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Demospongiae Jason Buchheim

23 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges The End

24 Odyssey Expeditions - Sponges Resources Barnes, Robert D. and Edward Ruppert. Invertebrate Zoology: Sixth Edition. Fort Worth: Saunders College Publishing, 1994 BIODIDAC: A Bank of Digital Resources For Teaching Biology. 20 Dec Kinsella, John, Drew Richardson and Bob Wohlers. Life on an Ocean Planet. California: Current Publishing Corp., 2006 Taylor, Walter K. and Robert L. Wallace. Invertebrate Zoology: A Laboratory Manual Sixth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002