Porifera


 * Porifera **


 * APPLETON, JENNA ||
 * DAVIS, GARRETT ||
 * PERCY, RYAN ||
 * ANNELLO, JOSEPH ||
 * CAVAGNARO, MEGAN ||
 * ELEFONTUYI, TIMILEYIN ||
 * NAIR, MALAVIKA ||

Research your assigned Animal Phylum for the following information-

Basic Structure • Sponges do not have nervous, digestive, or circulatory systems. Instead, most rely on maintaining a constant water flow through their bodies to obtain food and oxygen and to remove wastes, and the shapes of their bodies are adapted to maximize the efficiency of the water flow. • Their bodies consist of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. • Adult sponges can be asymmetrical or radially symmetrical. They come in a variety of sizes, colors, and shapes, including tree-like, fan-shaped, cup shaped, tube shaped, ball shaped, and shapeless among others. • The body structure of a sponge is relatively simple. • Sponges include a system of canals and pores, also called ostia, in which water passes through.

Unique Facts • Sponges are among some of the oldest animals, they were discovered around 600 million years ago. • Sponges have no tissues or organs – No mouth and no gut. • Sponges drink the equivalent of 64 glasses of water on a daily basis. • One of the first drugs for treating cancer, cytosine arabinoside, was obtained from a sponge. • Sponges can pump up to 10,000 times their size (volume) in water in one day. • A sponge the size of a gallon of milk can pump enough water to fill a residential size swimming pool in one day. • Sponges produce more than 3 times more oxygen than they consume.

Approximate Size of Phylum • Porifera consists of approximately 10,000 species that are living today • Approximately 100 species of sponges are found in fresh water. • Porifera is consisted of four main classes: Class Calcarea, Class Hexactinellida, Class Demospongiae which is the largest class, and Class Sclerospongiae, the smallest class.

Classes of Animals in the Phylum Classes included in the Porifera phylum; Calcarea, Hextactenillada, Demospongiae. - Calcarea is a class of sponge with a spicular skeleton made of calcium carbonate. Examples include; British purse sponge, grantia and sycon. - Hexactenillada are commonly called 'glass sponges' due to their silica spiculas. Best known example of this is Euplectalla, or Venus' flower bsa - Demospongiae are known as the demosponges, most containing spongin fibers and/or siliceus spicules. Most prevelant class in the Porifera phylum, contains 90% of the types of sponges such as; Cliona (or boring sponges), Spongiidae and encrusting green forms


 * Phylogenetic Tree of Porifera **

Calcarea| Hextactenillada---|-- Porifera Demospongiae|

//__Pheronema Carpenteri__// __. __
 * Examples of Phylum



__ Rhabdocalyptus dawsoni __



__ Heterochone calyx __



__ Aphrocallistes vastus __



= __ Xestosponga muta __ =



Geographic Distribution
 * Porifera are found exclusively in marine environments throughout the world.
 * Most species of Porifera are found in the Oceans of the world
 * Though 150 species are found in fresh water locales such as lakes
 * Found in large quantities in the gulf of Mexico, Hawaii and many Pacific isla

**Ecological Distrubition**
they are an important role in cleaning up the ocean floor. Amebocytes in sponges also release chemicals that help break down shells and corals These chemicals are powerful antibiotics to fight bacteria, in addition to some viruses
 * Porifera has a very important job in the environment, it does many things.
 * Porifera is a good indication of polluted waters because it is sensitive to pollution.
 * Porifera cleans water because it feeds by filtering bacteria from the water that passes through them. Some sponges trap roughly 90 percent of all bacteria in the water they filter. Sponges formed the first major biological reef systems in the middle Tommotian period.
 * Sponges seemed to have played an important role in most reef systems thereafter, and have been critical in maintaining reef systems during certain times of biological crisis. Porifera serves as a shelter for other organisms (live in hollow spaces)
 * Porifera has symbiotic relationships with other organisms, which is a close and long term interaction between two organisms.
 * Photosynthetic symbionts provide food and oxygen to the sponge and remove wastes,
 * Protection: manufacture toxins that help discourage animals from chewing on sponges.

__** Feeding Mechanisms of Porifera **__ Reproductive mechanisms of Porifera __Works Cited__
 * They are carnivorous
 * They eat whole animals
 * They capture small crustaceans to eat
 * They use there spicules to capture there food which acts like velcro when it comes to contact with crustaceans
 * They get there food by filtering water through pours
 * They can reproduce sexually and asexually
 * They are hermaphroditic
 * Asexual reproduction occurs when a fragment of the sponge is broken off by natural forces or by predators
 * They both produce sperm and eggs

// Pheronema Carpenteri //. Digital image. //Animaldiversity//. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

// Rhabdocalyptus Dawsoni //. Digital image. //Pioneer Union Elementary School District//. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. .

// Heterochone Calyx //. Digital image. //Pioneer Union Elementary School District//. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

// Aphrocallistes Vastus //. Digital image. //Pioneer Union Elementary School District//. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .

// Xestospongia Muta //. Digital image. //Pioneer Union Elementary School District//. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. [].

"Demospongia."ucmp.berkeley.edu. February 15, 2011. []

Lavrov, Dennis.”Tree of Life: Porifera.” 2009. The Tree of Life Web Project. February 15, 2011. []

"Porifera." rci.rutgers.edu. February 16, 2011. [|http://rci.rutgers.edu/~dvhowe/invertzoo/porifera3slidesper.pdf]

Probert, Matt and Leela. “Calcarea.” 1993-2011. The Probert Encyclopedia. February 16, 2011. []

http://tolweb.org/treehouses/? treehouse_id=3315

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ porifera/poriferalh.html