Tag Archives: sponges

Sponges feed primarily by collecting suspended particles from water pumped through internal canal systems. Water enters canals through a multitude of tiny incurrent pores in the outer layer of cells, a pinacoderm. Incurrent pores, called dermal ostia, have an average diameter of 50 µm. Inside the body, water is directed …

Most animals move to search for food, but a sessile sponge draws food and water into its body instead. The entrance of water through myriads of tiny pores is reflected in the phylum name, Porifera (po-rif´ -er-a) (L. porus, pore, + fera, bearing). The sponge uses a flagellated “collar cell,” …