PORIFEROS: What are, types, reproduction and examples

Porifers, commonly known as sponges, are multicellular organisms that lack defined symmetry and do not have complex tissues or organs. These aquatic animals, mostly marine, live fixed to a substrate and are characterized by their Body full of pores and channels that allow the passage of water. This structure helps them in vital functions such as food and excretion. Although they are mainly sessile, some sponges can move slowly. Its diversity of shapes and colors is amazing, and can be found in all oceans, from intertidal areas to marine depths.

• The morphology of the simplest sponges resembles a cylinder with a cavity central called Espongocele, where water flows.
• The water enters through numerous pores on the wall of the body and comes out of a major opening, the osculus.
• Exist various body forms in the sponges, with variations in the size of the spongocele and the quantity and location of the Óóculos.
• Although They do not have an organization in layers of fabricThey have specialized cells that perform specific functions.
• Pinacocytes form the outer layer and the Mesohil acts as a gelatinous endosqueleto.
• Coanocytes, or “necklace cells” generate water currents and capture food particles.
• Amebocytes move through the Mesohilo, transporting nutrients and participating in reproduction.
• Some sponges produce calcium or silica carbonate spicules to provide stiffness and defense.
• Some spicules They can reach considerable sizeslike him Monorhaphis Chuniwhich can grow up to 3 meters.

• Calcarea class: It is characterized by having calcium carbonate spicues and lacking spongin. These sponges can be lonely or colonial and have glass or cylindrical shapes. Generally, they measure less than 15 cm and are in shallow waters of the oceans. The structures of these sponges can be asconoid, siconoid or leukonoids, and their color is usually opaque.
• Hexactinellida class: Known as glass sponges, it contains siliceous spicules with six radios and does not present spongine. Your skeleton can form a network and coanocytes cover finger -shaped cameras. These sponges, which can grow up to a meter, live in deep tropical seas and have cylindrical or funny shapes.
• Demolition class: Includes spongin and can have siliceous spicules. This class houses the greatest diversity of sponge species, with irregular shapes and a system of leuk type channels. They are mostly marine, although there are some species of fresh water. These characteristics make porifers a fascinating group within the animal kingdom.

Porifers feed filtering the water that passes through their bodies. They lack complex digestive systems; Instead, the water enters through the ostios and leaves through the Ósculo. Small bacteria are trapped in coanocytes, which ingest them by phagocytosis. The largest particles can be captured by the pinacocytes. In addition, amoebocytes transport food between cells. The water flow, driven by the movement of the scourges, not only provides food and oxygen, but also It also facilitates the elimination of waste by disseminationcreating an efficient and adaptive system.

The sponges reproduce in two ways:

• Asexual reproduction: The most common is fragmentation, where a piece follows and sits into a new substrate, or geming, in which a genetically identical outbreak grows from the parent. A special, exclusive method of freshwater sponges is the formation of gums. These resistant structures allow sponges to survive in adverse conditions and recolonize habitats when the environment stabilizes. We recommend reading this article about asexual reproduction: what is, types and examples.
• Sexual reproduction: The sponges are hermaphrodites, simultaneously producing ovules and sperm. The sperm are expelled through osculo, fertilizing oocytes in the Mesohilo of other sponges. Larval development occurs within the sponge, and the larvae swim freely before being released.

Calcarea class

• ASCYSSA AUMFERA
• ASCYSA Coralloids
• Ascyssa Troglodytes

Hexactinellida class

• Lophocalyx
• Mellonympha
• SYMPELLA
• Bathydorus
• Caulophacella
• Caulophacus
• Scyphidium
• TRICHASTERINE
• Vazella
• Euplectellidae
• Leucsacidae
• Rossellidae

Demolla class

• Thrombus challengeri
• Thrombus jancai
• Thrombus Kittonii
• Geodyian agassizii
• GEODIA ALBA
• GEODIA AMADAIBA
• Geodyian Ampistrongyla
• Asbestopluma Hypogea
• Western asbestopluma
• Euchelipluma
• Guitar
• Tetrapocillon

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