1. Phylum Porifera

2. Introduction

3. Sponges Filter-feeding system Sessile animals
many tiny pores and canals; adequate for their inactive life habit
Sessile animals
depend on water currents to bring them food and oxygen and carry away their body wastes
No organs or true tissues
Bodies are little more than masses of cells embedded in a gelatinous matrix
stiffened by a skeleton of minute spicules
calcium carbonate or silica and collagen

5. Sponges Vary in size Brightly colored
few millimeters to more than 2 meters
Brightly colored
(red, yellow, orange, green, and purple)
Some are radially symmetrical, but many are quite irregular in shape
Some stand erect, some are branched or lobed, and others are low in form (encrusted)

6. Erect

7. Branched or lobed

8. Encrusted

9. Ecological Relationship
More than 5000 species of sponges are marine
150 species live in fresh water
Found in all seas and at all depths
A few are found in brackish water
Embryos are free swimming
Adults attach to objects (rocks, corral, shells, etc.)

10. Ecological Relationship
The calmer the water, the taller and straighter the sponge grows
Larger sponges tend to harbor a large variety of invertebrates commensally
(one species benefits and the other is not harmed)
Elaborate skeletal framework and often noxious odor provide protection against predators

11. Sea Turtle Eating a Sponge

12. Form and Function Ostia – many tiny pores for incoming water
(mouth)
Oscula – a few large pores for water outlet
(osculum – singular)

13. Form and Function Choanocytes
Flagellated collar cells to maintain a current through the canals

14. Sponges Filtering Water
HLc

15. Choanocytes also trap and phagocytize food particles that are carried in the water
Phagocytize – absorption through the cell wall creating food vacuoles

16. Sponge Physiology Feed on particles suspended in water
Detritus particles, planktonic organisms, and bacteria
Digestion is entirely intracellular
Occurs within cells
Life activities depend on current of water
A large sponge can filter 1500 liters of water a day
Some sponges can crawl at speeds of up to 4 mm per day

17. Reproduction and Development
All sponges are capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction
In sexual reproduction, most sponges are monoecious
(have both male and female sex cells in one individual)
Sperm arise from transformation of choanocytes
Sperm is released into the water by one individual and taken into the canal system of another

18. Reproduction U

19. Reproduction and Development
Parenchymula
solid-bodied; free-swimming larva of most sponge
Sponges reproduce asexually
fragmentation
forming external buds that detach or remain to form colonies

21. Taxonomy Kingdom Animalia (animals) Phylum Porifera (sponges)
Class Calcarea
Class Hexactinellida
Class Demospongiae

22. Class Calcarea

23. Class Calcarea
Have spicules of calcium carbonate that often form a fringe around the osculum
Have spicules that are needle shaped or three- or four rayed
Have all three types of canal systems (asconoid, syconoid, leuconoid)
Are all marine

25. Spicules

26. Class Hexactinellida

27. Class Hexactinellida
Have six-rayed, siliceous spicules extending at right angles from a central point
Spicules are often united to form network
Body often cylindrical or funnel shaped
Flagellated chambers in simple syconoid or leuconoid arrangement
Habitat mostly deep water; all marine

29. Class Hexactinellida

30. Class Demospongiae

31. Elephant Eared Sponge

32. Demospongiae

33. Class Demospongiae
Have skeleton of siliceous spicules that are six-rayed, or spongin, or both
Leuconoid-type canal systems
One family found in fresh water; all others marine

35. Demospongiae

36. Form and Function – Types of Skeleton
Major structural protein in the animal kingdom is collagen
Fibrils of collagen are found throughout the intercellular matrix of all sponges
Demospongiae secrete a form of collagen known as spongin
They also secrete siliceous spicules

38. Form and Function
Collapse of the canals is prevented by the skeleton of spicules, spongin fibers, or both
Most sponges have one of three types of canal systems – asconoid, syconoid, leuconiod

39. Form and Function – Types of Canal Systems
Asconoids – Flagellated Spongocoels
Have the simplest organization – small and tube shaped
Water enters through microscopic dermal pores (ostia) into a large cavity called a spongocoel
Spongocoel is lined with choanocytes which pull water through the pores and expel it through a single large osculum

42. Leucosolenia – slender, tubular individuals grow in groups attached by a common stolon (stem) attached to objects in shallow seawater.

43. Clathrina canariensis – bright yellow with intertwined tubes common on Caribbean reefs in caves and under ledges

44. Form and Function – Types of Canal Systems
Syconoids – Flagellated Canals
Look like larger editions of asconiod, from which they are derived
Have tubular body and a single osculum which is folded back and forth to make canals
Choanocytes line certain folds called radial canals

45. Form and Function – Types of Canal Systems
Water enters the ostia into the incurrent canals
Then it moves into radial canals via small lateral openings called prosopyles
Filtered water then moves through apopyles into the spongocoel, finally exiting by the osculum
Spongocoel is lined with epithelial-type cells

48. Form and Function – Types of Canal Systems
Leuconoids – Flagellated Chambers
Most complex of the sponge, which permits for increased size
Most have numerous oscula
Clusters of flagellated chambers are filled from incurrent canals and discharge water into excurrent canals that eventually lead to the osculum

49. Form and Function – Types of Canal Systems
continued…..
This increases the proportion of flagellated surfaces compared to volume, providing more collar cells to meet food demands
Most sponges are leuconoids

52. Sycon Ciliatum (Class Calcarea)

53. Leucosolenia (Class Calcarea)

54. Leucosolenia (Class Calcarea)

55. Clathrina (Class Calcarea)

56. Clathrina (Class Calcarea)

57. Euplectella (Class Hexactinellida)

58. Hyalonema (Class Hexactinellida)

59. Hyalonema (Class Hexactinellida)

60. Hyalonema (Class Hexactinellida)

61. Cliona – killing coral (Class Demospongiae)

62. Cliona (Class Demospongiae)

63. Spongilla (Class Demospongiae)

64. Spongilla - freshwater (Class Demospongiae)

65. Myenia (Class Demospongiae)

66. Bath Sponges (Class Demospongiae)

67. Bath Sponges (Class Demospongiae)

68. Asconoid

69. Syconoid

70. Leuconoid