Find more facts and information on our topic page about
Porifera
Porifera
Porifera (Spongiaria, sponges) A phylum of aquatic
Animalia, most of which are marine. They lack definite tissues and organs, but have a filter-feeding system composed of flagellate cells, pores, and canals. Most are covered externally by either a
cortex or a dermis. The soft body may be supported by a skeleton composed of
collagen, with or without siliceous or calcareous
spicules, protein
spongin fibres, or a combination of the last two. The body shape is very variable, being influenced by the substratum and water currents (e.g. where the water movement is very strong, sponges often grow as rounded clumps, but in calm water they may assume branching shapes). Sponges have remarkable powers of regeneration, small, broken pieces being capable of growing into a whole animal. Larvae are motile and produced by sexual reproduction. The phylum ranges from the
Cambrian to the present.
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
|
Molecular evolution of rDNA in early diverging Metazoa: First comparative analysis and phylogenetic application of complete SSU rRNA secondary structures in Porifera.(Research article)
Magazine article from: BMC Evolutionary Biology; 2/27/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...for early metazoan evolution is Phylum Porifera (sponges), in which the relationships...representatives of the main lineages of Phylum Porifera, and evaluated how secondary structure...considered all available SSU rRNA sequences of Porifera, inferred their secondary structures...
|
 "Bulletin (Southern California Academy of Sciences)")
|
A New North Pacific Heterochone Transferred from Aphrocallistes (Porifera: Hexactinellida).
Magazine article from: Bulletin (Southern California Academy of Sciences); 8/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...During an ongoing survey of California collections by myself and coworkers, with the aim of producing an updated guide to the Porifera of California, we encountered a hexactinellid sponge from southern California unknown to the region (last summarized by de...
|
|
Cell death in Porifera: molecular players in the game of apoptotic cell death in living fossils (1).
Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of Zoology; 2/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...from nematode to man. Sponges (phylum Porifera) are characterized by a remarkable regeneration...emerged from studies of apoptosis in Porifera. Resume: L'apoptose est la manifestation...nematodes aux humains. Les eponges (phylum Porifera) se caracterisent par une capacite remarquable...
|
|
United States: Livermore Lab inks license with Hayward s Porifera Inc.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/14/2009; 542 words
; ...technology useful for desalination to Porifera Inc. of Hayward. This is an exclusive...Bakajin, the chief technology officer of Porifera, used to work at Livermore Lab, where...Jennifer Klare, scientists who work for Porifera, thought up some of the new uses for...
|
|
The distribution and habitat preferences of freshwater sponges (Porifera) in four southern Lake Michigan harbors
Magazine article from: The American Midland Naturalist; 10/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...Three species of freshwater sponges (Porifera): Spongilla lacustris (Linneaus...and taxonomy of freshwater sponges (Porifera: Spongillidae) in North America has...1:77-89. FROST, T. M. 1991. Porifera, p. 95-124. In:J. H. Thorp and...
|
|
Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea
Magazine article from: Northeastern Naturalist; 1/1/2002; ; 388 words
; Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea. (4th Ed.). Douglas Grant Smith. 2001...been thoroughly updated and revised. Chapters include the Porifera, Cividaria, Platyhelminthes, Rotifers, Nemertea, Gastrotricha...
|
|
|
Biology of the Porifera: cell culture (1,2,3).
Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of Zoology; 2/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; Abstract: The discovery that dissociated sponge cells will reaggregate to form a functional organism was the basis for the establishment of sponge cell cultures that have been used as a model for the study of fundamental processes in developmental biology and immunology. More recent is the
|
|
Polyphyly of "sclerosponges" (Porifera, Demospongiae) supported by 28S ribosomal sequences.
Magazine article from: The Biological Bulletin; 12/1/1997; ; 700+ words
; Introduction Recent sponges generally have a skeleton made of spicules that are either siliceous (classes Demospongiae and Hexactinellida) or calcareous (class Calcarea). However, 16 living species build an unusual solid calcareous skeleton, which bears a striking similarity to that of various
|
|
|
Classification and phylogeny of Hexactinellida (Porifera) (1).
Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of Zoology; 2/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; Abstract: Development of the present classification scheme of the class Hexactinellida was delayed because authors of the early species descriptions did not figure their specimens and few of them had access to compound microscopes necessary to visualize characters important in determining
|
|
|
Effect of disturbance on assemblages: an example using porifera.
Magazine article from: The Biological Bulletin; 10/1/2003; ; 700+ words
; Introduction The development of any community (e.g., mature or young) is controlled by a suite of biological and physical factors that may be closely related and interlinked (Buss and Jackson, 1979). In some marine environments, such as caves, communities (all species) are well developed (mature);
|
|
Porifera
Book article from: A Dictionary of Earth Sciences
Porifera ( Spongiaria , sponges ) A phylum of multicellular animals that are not included in the Animalia . Sponges are sessile, benthic...
|
|
|
Animalia
Book article from: A Dictionary of Earth Sciences
...animals other than protozoons (some of which are colonial); Porifera (sponges) are sometimes excluded because their structure...other animals. Animals first appeared in the Precambrian , the Porifera from one kind of protist forebear, and all other animals from...
|
|
|
Calcarea
Book article from: A Dictionary of Earth Sciences
Calcarea ( Calcispongea ; phylum Porifera ) A class of sponge, ranging from Cambrian to Recent, in which the skeleton is made entirely of calcareous spicules which are...
|
|
sponges and related fossils
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to the Earth
...isolated spicules shows that sponges existed at least as far back as the Cambrian. The sponges form the major part of the phylum Porifera, but there are several groups of sponge-like organisms that are found as fossils and are generally included within the phylum...
|
|
|
Demospongea
Book article from: A Dictionary of Earth Sciences
Demospongea ( Demospongiae ; phylum Porifera ) A class of sponges that first appears in the Cambrian . The soft tissue of the skeleton is supported by siliceous spicules...
|
