Porifera Emma Ethan and Carlos General Description A

Porifera Emma, Ethan, and Carlos

General Description • A phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals that comprises the sponges • Multicellular, porous bodies that allow water to flow through

Symmetry • Most commonly asymmetrical • Some can exhibit radial symmetry

Feeding • Filter feeders • Water enters through ostia (small pores) • Once food is filtered out, water exits through osculum (large pores) • carnivorous

Circulation • No circulation system • Depend on water flow to feed, get oxygen, and remove waste • Adapted body shape to maximize water flow

Excretion • cells release their waste products • Water flows through and filters out the waste products • They all have different shapes

Response • Multicellular organisms, • No organs, no brain, no nervous system. • can respond to an external stimuli is through their physical structures

Movement • Sessile • They cannot move at all

Reproduction • Asexual reproduction achieved through budding • male sponge releases sperm into the water to enter a female sponge in sexual reproduction

Respiration • oxygen moves from water to sponge through diffusion

Class • Calcarea • Hexactinellida • Hyalospongiae