Phylum Porifera
By: Gabe Milliron & Danny Baker
Background
Phylum Proifera is also known as Sea Sponges. Sea Sponges have no digestive system. The Sponges are attached to one place for their entire life span. They range in size from 3 feet to 1/8 of an inch. Sea Sponges are very closely related to protista. Protistas fall in the group of Unicellular algae.
Characterstics
- 9,000 species found
- Three classes (Demospongiae, Calcarea, and Hexactinelida)
- Only move 4 millimeters a day.
- No symmetry
- Has no nervous system
Special adaptitions
Sponges are The sponges make up for their lack of tissue with their four different types of cells. They have amoebcytes cells that help with the digestion of material. Spicule cells that provide support. Porocyte cells which help control what goes into the cell. Last there are choanocyte cells which direct the flow of the current into the cell.
Reproduction
Sponges are able to reproduce sexually and or asexually. The males release their sperm into the water. The Sperm float in the water until they find a female. The females take in the sperm through to pores on the outside of their bodies. The Females release their eggs into the water and they float until they find a spot to begin to grow.
Feeding
The Sea Sponges have no digestive system. Instead they are filter feeders, they feed off off the particles in the water passing through their small pores. As they are attached to their spot, the current is how they feed. The current brings nutrients that are absorbed in through the outside of the Sponge.
Excretion
All Phylum Porifera have the same excretion system. They rely on water flowing into them with nutrients. Then the water carries out the Carbon Monoxide that is produced by the sponge. This is always happening and it never stops.
Movement
Only a few types of Phylum Porifera are abole to move. Many types of sponges are born, raised and hatched where they lamded as an egg. The sponges that are able to move are only able to move 4mm a day. Most sponges are only strong enough to move with the current of the water. They also use the current of the water to help propel them fowaer backward or wherever they're going.
Nervous
Sea sponges have no brains and no nerve endings. This meand that they have no Nervous System. Instead they rely on their pores. The sponges open and close their pores in order to have an intake in oxygen. Also, they have no nerve cells in their intire bodies.
Circulation
Phylum Porifera do not have a Circulatory System. Instead they rely on their pores to move nutriants about the sponge. The sponges have what is known as a water based circulatory system. They open and close their pores to control the flow of water through their bodies. The water brings in key componets and takes out the waste from the sponge.
Fun Facts
- They have no mouth.
- Only move around 1-3 millimeters a day.
- They can grow up to 5.5 miles down.
- Can live for 200 years.
- Some chemicals produced by the sponges are used to treat cancer.
- When one part of the sponges break off they become their own sponge.
- Sponges are found in fresh and salt water.
- Some sponges are carnivores and trap crustaceans inside them.
- Sponges are the oldest fossils found being 600 million years old.
- Sponges can change the shape of their body.
Cites
- "Cryptotethya Crypta and Other Sea Sponge Wonders"Sponges Live in the Ocean. That Just Kills Me. I Wonder How Deep the Ocean Would Be If That Didn't Happen." -Stephen Wright." Cryptotethya Crypta and Other Sea Sponge Wonders. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
"Porifera." Animal Sciences, edited by Allan B. Cobb, Macmillan Reference USA, 2010. Science in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CV2642050210/SCIC?u=lees33148&xid=d1c1ede4. Accessed 4 May 2017.
"Cool Facts about the Sea Sponge." Porifera. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
"10 Interesting Porifera Facts." My Interesting Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
"Porifera Facts for Kids." Easy Science For Kids. N.p., 18 Nov. 2016. Web. 05 May 2017.
- "Investigation." About Sponges. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 201
- "Sponges." SPONGES. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.