Phylum Porifera (Sponges)

  • Porifera (meaning “pore bearer”).
  • Asymmetrical or a few radially symmatrical
  • Their bodies are full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them.
  • Have unspecialized cells (not true tissue)
  • Rely on maintaining a constant water flow through their bodies to obtain food and oxygen from their environment and to remove wastes.
  • Adults are sessile
  • Larval stage is motile (swims through the water)

 

bath sponge
Bath sponge
glass sponge without soft cells
Glass sponge structure (spicules that make a skeleton like structure)
sponge diversity
A variety of sponges
sponge larvae
A motile larvae of a sponge
sponge
Sponges have specialized cells (no true tissue) and are made of channels and tubes that they use to filter water.

 

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