Get Sponges A Coloring Worksheet

Cells in the sponge walls filter food from the water as the water is pumped through the body and the osculum ("little mouth"). The flow of water through the sponge is in one direction only, driven by the beating of flagella which line the surface of chambers connected by a series of canals.

What causes water to move through a sponge? Collar cells in the osculum called choanocytes create a current using their flagella. This current carries the water through the sponge.

Overview. The phylum Porifera contains predominantly marine sponges; it is only in the suborder Spongillina within the order Haplosclerida that the freshwater species are found. Freshwater sponges show a high diversity of colours, sizes, body shapes and textures and are found worldwide.

The approximately 8,550 living sponge species are scientifically classified in the phylum Porifera, which is comprised of four distinct classes: the Demospongiae (the most diverse, containing 90 percent of all living sponges), Hexactinellida (the rare glass sponges), Calcarea (calcareous sponges), and Homoscleromorpha ...

The approximately 5,000 living sponge species are classified in the phylum Porifera, which is composed of three distinct groups, the Hexactinellida (glass sponges), the Demospongia, and the Calcarea (calcareous sponges).

The inner layer consists of collar cells (A) whose function is to circulate water through the sponge. They do this by swishing their flagella which pulls water through the incurrent pore - water then travels out the osculum at the top of the sponge.

The body of the poriferans have pores called ostia. The body has only one opening called the osculum. There is a continuous water movement from the exterior to the interior of the body of the poriferans. Water flows through the ostia into the spongocoel and goes out through the osculum.