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Sponges

Alison Kim & Lucy Wu

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Transport

  • Sponges have specialized cells instead of organs to carry out bodily functions
  • Archaeocytes digest the sponge’s food and carry it to other cells. Archaeocytes are also totipotent
  • Choanocytes pump water carrying food and oxygen through the sponge by beating their flagella

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Excretion

  • Sponges have no excretory system
  • Metabolic wastes diffuse into the surrounding water through the surface of the sponge and the oscula
  • Sponges only have 2-3 layers of cells, making it easy for waste to leave the sponge
  • A sponge uses considerable amounts of energy to help maintain proper homeostatic conditions
  • Waste products of sponges:
    • ammonia
    • other nitrogen-containing substances
    • mucus
    • toxic substances

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Respiration

  • Sponges lack respiratory organs
  • Respiratory process:
    • Porocytes open and allow water in
    • Choanocytes (“collar cells”) absorb the oxygen
    • Archaeocytes transport the oxygen to other areas of the cell
    • Other oxygen is absorbed directly through cell membranes
    • Waste products are pumped out through the osculum

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Nutrition

Primarily filter feeders:

  • Choanocytes’ flagella push water through the sponge
  • Choanocytes absorb food particles passing by in the current

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Sexual Reproduction

  • No reproductive organs
  • Most sponge species are monoecious
    • Release sperm into the water at certain times
    • At different times, the choanocytes take in sperm to fertilize an egg
  • Others are dioecious (like humans)
  • Sexual reproduction is more common than asexual

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Sexual Reproduction: Fertilization Process

  • Sperm is released and carried by the current
  • Sperm is captured by the choanocytes of another sponge containing eggs
  • The choanocyte transforms into a carrier cell
  • Carrier cell transports sperm to an egg for fertilization

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Asexual Reproduction

  • Gemmulation is the most common method of asexual reproduction in sponges:
    • Archaeocytes are isolated with a protective covering (“gemmules”), then expelled
  • Another way is budding:
    • The sponge grows branches with separate circulatory systems
    • The branches break off, creating new individuals

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Growth & Development

  • After fertilization, a larva is released from the sponge
  • The larva swims until it finds a place to attach to and begins to grow

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Classification

  • Linnaeus mistakenly classified sponges as plants in the order Algae
  • 1970: sponges with calcium carbonate skeletons were assigned to separate class Sclerospongiae
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Porifera
  • Class:
    • Calcarea (with spicules)
    • Demospongiae (horn sponges)
    • Hexactinellida (glass sponges)
    • Sclerospongiae (coralline sponges)

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Classes of Sponges

Calcarea (with spicules)

Demospongiae (horn sponges)

Sclerospongiae (coralline)

Hexactinellida (glass sponges)

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Evolution

  • Sponges are thought to have evolved from flagellated protozoans -- they display similarities with some types of protozoan colonies
  • Choanoflagellates are the closest living protist relatives of sponges

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Environment

  • Sponges can be found on mostly all of Earth
  • Respond to their environment by opening/closing pores (porocytes) to control water flow
  • Sponges lack a nervous system -- they have no specialized sensory cells

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Overview

  • Symmetry: usually considered to be asymmetrical, but some have radial symmetry
  • Cephalization: none
  • Organization: multicellular, but no organs (just specialized cells)

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