“Porifera : Spicules

+ Canal System +
Reproduction”
A presentation compiled
from various sources by
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA,
Zoology Dept. Bhavan’s College, Andheri.
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Sites from which presentations have been downloaded and later editted.
I am indeed thankful to them for their kindness and support :
http://esg-www.mit.edu:8001/esgbio/cb/org/organelles.html
http://faculty.pnc.edu/jcamp/parasit/parasit.html
http://www.amnh.org/rose/hope/creatinghope/
http://www.biology.eku.edu/SCHUSTER/bio%20141/POWERPOINT
%20NOTES/Intro%20to%20Protozoa_files/fullscreen.htm
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~zoology/eeob405/
http://www.tulane.edu/~wiser/protozoology/pwpt/
http://www.iep.water.ca.gov/suisun/photos/wildlife.html
http://www.uta.edu/biology/marshall/2343/
http://www.uta.edu/biology/faculty/faculty.html
http://www.okc.cc.ok.us/biologylabs/Documents/Zoology/PowerPoint.htm
http://bio.fsu.edu/
http://www.aw-bc.com/
http://www.nhm.org/
http://www.geo.cornell.edu/eas/education/course/descr/EAS302/presentations/

It is very easy to find mistakes in these presentations…..I request you to kindly

rectify them and supply me the modifications needed at parvishpandya@yahoo.com
Thanks a lot and have fun in teaching & learning Zoology….
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
THE PHYLUM
PORIFERA

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 INTRODUCTION TO PORIFERA
• Unusual animals
• Are•originally
primarily thought
marine, they
mostly in shallower
were plants waters
• Are sessile and attached to substrate or objects-
occasionally on other animals such as crabs
• Are the most primitive metazoans and have
neither true tissues or organs

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Sponge Cell Types
• Pinacocytes- outer cells covering sponge; equivalent
of epiderm
• Porococytes- cells which line the pores of the
sponge; through which water is drawn
• Choanocytes- similar to choanoflagellates; collared
cells with flagella which create water current and
collect food matter or sticky contractile collar.
• Amoebocytes- amoeba-like cells found throughout
the sponge; store, digest and transport food, excrete
wastes, secrete skeleton and also may give rise to
buds in asexual reproduction; there are several
different types

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Sponge Anatomy

Porocyte
Amoebocyte
Pinacocyte

Choanocyte

Pechenik, 1996
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Types of Amoebocytes
• Large Amoebocytes- distribute food to other
cells of sponge; move by way of pseudopods
• Archeocytes- undifferentiated sponge cells
that can give rise to more differentiated cells
such as pinacocytes or porocytes.
• Scleroblasts- produce spicules; two types
– Calcoblasts- make calcium carbonate spicules
– Silicoblasts- make silicious spicules

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Types of Spicules
4 general types

• Monaxon- needle-like or rod-like; straight or

curved
• Tetraxon- has 4 prongs
• Triaxon or Hexaxon- 3 or 6 rayed
• Polyaxon- multiple short rods radiating from a
common center; burr shaped, star shaped or
like a child's jack.
– Some species have a mixture of types

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Spongin
Give phylum its common name

• Some species have not spicules, but do have

spongin
• spongin is a type of hardened secreted
protein
• Some species have both spicules and
spongin

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Mesohyl
(=Mesenchyma)

• Beneath the pinacocytes - a gelatinous

protein layer

•it contains the skeletal material (ie. spongin

and spicules) and amoebocytes

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Three Basic Sponge Canal Systems

• Asconoid

• Syconoid

• Leuconoid

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Asconoid Sponges

• most primitive and simplistic in structure

• have radial symmetry
• are tube shaped

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Asconoid Sponge
two basic openings
• Ostia- or incurrent pores that open into
a central cavity called the spongocoel; it
is lined with choanocytes or collar cells
• Osculum- the opening of the
spongocoel to the outside; this is the
opening by which water leaves the
sponge

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Asconoid Sponge Design

• Imposes definite size limits to sponges

due to the problem of water flow
•The spongocoel contains such a large volume of
water that it is hard to push it our rapidly

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Asconoid sponges

• Most primitive
• Forms clusters of tubes
• Small tube shaped with
radial symmetry
• Simple route :
ostia spongocoel
osculum

Pechenik, 1996

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Syconoid Sponges

• next level of complexity

– walls are invaginated
– allowing for greater surface area over
which water can pass
• typically vase shaped like the asconoid
sponges
• radial symmetry

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Syconoid Structure

• helps to rectify some of the water

movement problem
– increasing the surface area
• so there are more choanocytes to water
volume
– decreasing the spongocoel volume
• these sponges able to get bigger than
asconoid
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Syconoid sponges
• More advanced but still
retains radial symmetry
• Higher degree of
invagination (body wall
folds)
• Route : Dermal ostia
Incurrent canals
prosopyles
radial canals
Pechenik, 1996
Pechenik, 1996 spongocoel
osculum
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Leuconoid Sponges

• highest level of complexity in sponges

• lost radial symmetry and are very
irregular in shape and may attain large
sizes
• invaginated canals are even further
invaginated and folded to from small
flagellated chambers

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Leuconoid Sponge Design
• further increase in surface area makes these
sponges highly efficient in moving and
filtering water
• spongocoel is gone except for canals that
lead to the osculum- or there may be a series
of excurrent openings
•spongocoel is gone except for canals that lead to the
osculum- or there may be a series of excurrent openings

•the largest sponges; most hydrologically efficient

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Leuconoid sponge

• Highest degree of
evagination
• Flagellated chambers
replace radial canals

Pechenik, 1996

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Sponge Reproduction
•Sexual

•Asexual

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Asexual Reproduction in Sponges

• two types:
– Budding- fragmentation of body wall, buds appear
as outgrowth on sides of sponge
• when they reach a certain size they drop off and settle to
bottom to form a new sponge
– Gemmules- occurs only in freshwater sponges
• gemmules are groups of food laden amoebocytes that
deposit a hard covering of spicules around them
• formation is triggered by environmental conditions such
as decreased temperatures
• they allow the sponge to pass the winter or periods of
drought
• after which the outer covering breaks open and a new
sponge develops
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Sexual Reproduction in Sponges

• gametes formed by amoebocytes

• there are both hermaphroditic and dioecious
species
– most hermaphroditic species produce eggs and sperm
at different times so they do not self fertilize
• sperm is released into environment via osculum
and is brought in by another sponge via ostia
• fertilization takes place in parent sponge
• zygote is expelled - it drops to bottom and begins
to develop
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Class Calcarea
• spicules composed of calcium
carbonate
• spicules are monaxons or tri or
quadraxons
• all three types of sponges exhibited
• All less than 10 cm high
– ex. Leucosolenia and Grantia
• found in shallow coastal waters
• all are marine
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Class Hexactinellida
(glass sponges)
• Spicules always triaxon or hexaxon and fused to
form a lattice like skeleton
• cup or vase shaped with well developed
spongocoel
• most beautiful example is Euplectella - venus
flower basket
• chiefly live in 500-1000 meter depth
• are syconoid sponges
• all are marine
• may have commensal relationship with shrimp -
where a male and female live inside the sponge;
get trapped inside when they out-grow the pores
of sponge Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Class Demospongiae
• spicules are monaxon and tetraaxon
• variously shaped some are huge
• all are leuconoid
•all but one family is marine- Spongillidae- is freshwater
about 150 freshwater species this is the group from
which we get our commercial sponges
•spicules are silicious if present otherwise skeleton is
made of spongin or both
•this is the group from which we get our commercial
sponges

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Class Sclerospongiae

• proposed in 1970 to include 6 species from

Jamaica
• have silicious spicules and spongin
• are leuconoid sponges

•also have an outer covering composed of

calcium carbonate

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation