Sponges Cnidarians 2BIbDF09 10/11

What are Sponges?

Sponges, from the Latin pore bearers, are very primitive animals of the phylum Porifera, more precisely they are the first multicellular animals. They evolved very early from colonial protists. Their ancestors are the choanoflagellates (group of free-living unicellular and colonial flagellate eukaryotes considered to be the closest living relatives of the animals). There are between 8'000 and 9'000 species of sponges, depending of the textbook.
They are invertebrates, which are animals without backbones.

• see Appendix Sponges 1

What are the main characteristics of Sponges?

They are loosely organized and lack true tissues. Their sizes are from a few millimeters to more than 2 meters in diameter. They don't have a symmetry The body of a sponge looks similar to a vase pierced with small holes and pores. Water is drawn through the little pores into a central cavity, the spongocoel, then flows out the sponge through a larger opening, the osculum. In this process, they collect small particulate matter and tiny planktons, by the trapping action of the choanocytes, which are collar cells. Sponges do not have nervous, digestive or circulatory systems.

Where do Sponges live?

Of the 9'000 or so species of sponges, only about 100 live in fresh water, the rest are marine.

What are Cnidarians?

Cnidarians (phylum Cnidaria) are mostly marine species (more than 10'000).