Porifera: Learn about sponges

Learn about sponges, the primitive animals with porous bodies and water canal systems. Find out their general features, modes of reproduction, classification and examples of sponges. Porifera are all aquatic, mostly marine except one family Spongillidae which lives in freshwater. They are sessile and sedentary and grow like plants. The body shape is vase or cylinder-like, asymmetrical, or radially symmetrical. Sponge biodiversity and morphotypes at the lip of a wall site in 60 feet (20 m) of water. Included are the yellow tube sponge , Aplysina fistularis, the purple vase sponge , Niphates digitalis, the red encrusting sponge , Spirastrella coccinea, and the gray rope sponge , Callyspongia sp. Sponges are similar to other animals in that they are multicellular, heterotrophic, lack cell walls and produce sperm cells. Unlike other animals, they lack true tissues [12] and organs. [13] Some of them are ... Phylum Porifera means “pore-bearing” animals . They are simple, multicellular organisms with bodies full of holes (pores) that help circulate water and filter food particles. Unlike more advanced animals, sponges do not have true tissues or organs.