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The scientific name Porifera is a neuter plural of the Modern Latin term porifer, which comes from the roots porus meaning "pore, opening", and -fer meaning "bearing or carrying". Overview Sponge biodiversity and morphotypes at the lip of a wall site in 60 feet (20 m) of water.
Demosponges (Demospongiae) are the most diverse class in the phylum Porifera. They include greater than 90% of all species of sponges with nearly 8,800 species worldwide (World Porifera Database). [5] They are sponges with a soft body that covers a hard, often massive skeleton made of calcium carbonate, either aragonite or calcite [citation ...
All sponges in this class are strictly marine, and, while they are distributed worldwide, most are found in shallow tropical waters. Like nearly all other sponges, they are sedentary filter feeders. All three sponge body plans (asconoid, syconoid, and leuconoid) can be found within the class Calcarea. Typically, calcareous sponges are small ...
They are found in all oceans of the world, although they are particularly common in Antarctic and Northern Pacific waters. [ 3 ] They are more-or-less cup-shaped animals, ranging from 10 to 30 centimetres (3.9 to 11.8 in) in height, with sturdy skeletons made of glass -like silica spicules , fused to form a lattice.
Sponges, known scientifically as Porifera, are the oldest metazoans and are used to elucidate the basics of multicellular evolution. [2] These living fossils are ideal for studying the principal features of metazoans, such as extracellular matrix interactions, signal-receptor systems, nervous or sensory systems, and primitive immune systems.
These carnivorous sponges are usually found around nutrient hot spots like seamounts, and oceanic ridges. [5] While most species in abyssocladia have been found at depths over 3000 meters, a few have been found in shallower waters around 1000m. [6] One species, A. antarctica, was found at 220 m, in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. [7]
Homoscleromorpha are exclusively marine sponges that tend to encrust on other surfaces at shallow depths. These sponges typically inhabit shady locations, under overhangs and inside caves. In the Mediterranean Sea, 82% of the species in this taxon can be found in caves, and 41% of them are found nowhere else. [10]
Spongilla lacustris is part of the class demosponges of the phylum Porifera. The Porifera phylum contains all sponges which are characterized by the small pores on the outer layer, which take in water. The cells in the sponge walls filter food from the water. Whatever is not uptaken by the sponge is pumped through the body out of a large opening.