Body cells

Sponges are multicultural organisms which have no symmetry. Sponges are built up from relatively few cell types, the main ones being choanocytes, pinacocytes, amoebocytes and lophocytes. Choanocytes are vase shaped cells with a collar of fine fibrils connected by microvilli. this is a filter which strains out the smallest food items from the water such as individual bacteria. Extending from the centre of this collar is the single flagellum whose beating drives the water currents that keep the sponge alive and healthy. Choanocytes can also turn into spermatocytes (while the amoebocytes make up oocytes) when needed for sexual reproduction, due to the lack of reproductive organs in sponges. oocyte, ovocyte, or rarely ocyte, is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. Porocytes are tubular cells which make up the pores of a sponge. Myocytes, little muscular cells, open up the porocytes and close them. Amoebocytes or Archaeocytes ( amoebocytes) are amoeba like cells. they are mobile and move around within the sponge body. This is especially important in reproduction as the sex cells of the sponge in sexual reproduction are formed from these amoeboid cells. Similarly in asexual reproduction amoebocytes result in the formation of gemmules which are cyst-like spheres containing more amoebocytes as well as other sponge cells including the phylum specific choanocyte. If an amoebocyte secretes the spongin fibres of the skeleton they are called a spongioblast, if it secretes spicules it is called a scleroblast and if it is star shaped and secrete collagenous fibrils then it is called a collencyte. Pinacocytes, these form much of the epidermis of sponges and are as close as a sponge gets to having a tissue. Generally they cover the exterior and some interior surfaces. They can change their size (they are contractile) and can therefore change the size of the openings of the ostia thus controlling the flow of water through the sponge. Pinacocytes are also implicated in the absorption into the sponge of larger food items.In a sponge, pinacocytes are a thin, elastic layer which keeps water out. Sclerocytes are spicule secreting cells, found in sponges. They secrete calcareous or siliceous spicules which are found in the mesohyl layer of sponges. Lophocytes are a type of amoebocyte, they are the most motile of the sponge cells moving around relatively freely within the mesohyl where they are important in the secretion of fibrils. sponges have swimming sperms and swimming larvae which is good when the adults can't move around. That lets them have eggs fertilized by other individuals and lets the offspring grow somewhere away from the parent so there is less competition.

LOPHOCYTE CHOANOCYTES POROCYTE ARCHEOCYTE OOCYTE SCLEROCYTE PINACOCYTES

Body layers
pinaccoderm
body wall is formed of an outer layer pinaccoderm , which is made up of pinacocytes.

choanoderm
Inner layer choanoderm is made up of choanocytes.

mesoglea
Between pinaccoderm and choanoderm , mesoglea is present. It contains amoeboid cell and spicules, Sclerocytes , Oocytes and Lophocytes. Numerous pores are present in the body wall.the pores through which water enters the body is called Ostia, and the main pore through which the water leaves the body is called osculum. There is a single body cavity called sponcoel which is lined by flagellated choanocytes.

Canal system
Sponges are filter feeders. They use the flagella of the collar cells to make water flow in through the pores and out through the osculum (bigger excurrent pore). Little bits of organic matter get caught in the collars of the collar cells. Digestion happens inside the cells of the sponge, and the amoebocytes help distribute the food throughout the body. Water enters through Ostia and circulates through various canals, chambers or a central cavity and finally leaves the body through osculum. This system of water circulation is called canal system. The canals have openings to the outside which are called pores. The system of getting food through the pores is called filter feeding. Many if not most of these canals are lined with special flagellated cells called 'choanocytes'. These choanocytes keep the water flowing through the canals in the correct direction by beating their flagellum, they are also important in trapping food items.

There are three main types of canal system in sponges:The simplest form is Asconoid, here the canals run straight through the sponge body and all the choanocytes line the central large space called the 'spongocoel'. The water enters the ostia, is drawn through to the spongocoel and leaves through a single large osculum. Asconoid sponges have cylindrical hollow bodies and tend to grow in groups attached to some object or other in relatively shallow seas.If it is simply scaled up, the ratio of its volume to surface area increases, because surface increases as the square of length or width while volume increases proportionally to the cube. Syconoid sponges in which the body wall is pleated. The canals are branched however and do not allow the water to flow straight through in to the spongocoel. Instead the water flows a twisted route through a number of canals some of which are lined with choanocytes before being expelled into the spongocoel and out through the osculum. The spongocoel is not lined with choanocytes only the canals. Leuconoid.:- In leuconoid sponges the canal system is more complicated again with the canals being longer and more branched, they lead to special chambers whose walls are lined by choanocytes, there are no choanocytes in the canals. There is no real spongocoel just a central exit canal leading to the osculum. Leuconoid sponges tend to live in large groups with each individual sponge having its own osculum, however the borders between individual sponges are often hard to define and the sponge may act more like a large communal organism.

Asconoid

Syconoid

Leuconoid

PINACOCYTES CHOANOCYTES MESOPHYL WATER FLOW

Skeleton
Their skeleton is made up of collegen and needle like structures. needle like structures are called spicules. Spicules are non-living aggregates of a chemical nature, secreted and made from either silica or calcium carbonate as calcite or aragonite. There are two main components of a sponge skeleton, a protein called spongin which forms a tough fibrous network throughout the sponge and normally works in conjunction with the spicules.

Habitats
Sponges are worldwide in their distribution, from the polar regions to the tropics. Most live in quiet, clear waters, because sediment stirred up by waves or currents would block their pores, making it difficult for them to feed and breathe. The greatest numbers of sponges are usually found on firm surfaces such as rocks, but some sponges can attach themselves to soft sediment by means of a rootlike base. Sponges are more abundant but less diverse in temperate waters than in tropical waters, possibly because organisms that prey on sponges are more abundant in tropical waters. Glass sponges are the most common in polar waters and in the depths of temperate and tropical seas, as their very porous construction enables them to extract food from these resource-poor waters with the minimum of effort. Demosponges and calcareous sponges are abundant and diverse in shallower non-polar waters.