Unit 3 - Sponges

Are sponges animals?

YES

What are the 3 sponge classes?

Calcarea, hexactinellida, demospongiae.

What does phylum porifera mean?

Oldest living animal, 580 million years, porifera means pore bearers

What does calcarea sponges mean?

Spicules are made of calcium carbonate.

What does hexactinellida sponges mean?

Glass sponges, spicules are made of silica.

What does demospongiae sponges mean?

Most diverse class of sponges, skeleton is made of spicules and spongin.

Where do sponges live?

Marine, all levels of the ocean, from the shallow tidal zones to the deepest depths of the ocean floor.

What do sponges eat?

Marine plankton, aka bacteria, archaebacteria, algae, protists, because they are marine plankton.

Why are sponges considered the most primitive (simple) animal?

They don’t have brains, as well as any organs so they don’t have an organ system.

Why are sponges as a species hard to kill off?

Can survive freezing temperatures, eating only bacteria, and can create gemmules.

How do sponges eat their food?

Water enters through the side holes called the Ostia pores, then are in the choanocyte, then the choanocyte uses flagellum to catch the nutrients in the water, then the amoebocytes absorb the nutrients, and excess water goes through the Osculums.