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This article is about the aquatic animal. For the porous cleaning tool, see Sponge (tool). A sponge is a Tool, Implement, Utensil or cleaning aid consisting of porous material For other uses, see Sponge (disambiguation).
Sponge
Fossil range: Ediacaran - Recent

Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: "Porifera" (Paraphyletic)
Grant in Todd, 1836
Classes

Calcarea
Hexactinellida
Demospongiae

The sponges or poriferans (from Latin porus "pore" and ferre "to bear") are animals of the phylum Porifera (pronounced /pɒˈrɪfərə/). The Ediacaran Period (ˌiːdiˈækərən named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia) is the last geological period of the Neoproterozoic Animals Plants fungi, and Protists are eukaryotes (juːˈkærɪɒt or -oʊt Organisms whose cells are organized into complex Robert Edmond Grant MD FRCPEd FRS (1793–1874 was born in Edinburgh and educated at Edinburgh University as a physician Robert Bentley Todd (1809 &ndash 1860 was an Irish -born physician who is best known for describing the condition postictal paralysis in his Lumleian Lectures in 1849 now known A class is the Taxonomic rank in the Biological classification of organisms in Biology below phylum and above order. The calcareous sponges of class Calcarea are members of the animal phylum Porifera, the cellular sponges Hexactinellid sponges are sponges with a Skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed silaceous Spicules, often referred to as glass sponges The Demospongiae are the largest class in the Phylum Porifera. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. A phylum ( Plural: phyla) is a Taxonomic rank between Kingdom and above Class. Porifera translates to "Pore-bearer". They are primitive, sessile, mostly marine, water dwelling filter feeders that pump water through their bodies to filter out particles of food matter. Sessile is a term in Biology with two distinct meanings In botany and medicine In Botany, sessile means "without a stalk An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. Filter feeders (also known as suspension feeders) are Animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water typically by passing the water Sponges represent the simplest of animals. A body plan, or bauplan, is essentially the blueprint for the way the body of an organism is laid out With no true tissues (parazoa), they lack muscles, nerves, and internal organs. The Parazoa are an ancestral subkingdom of Animals literally translated as "beside the animals" Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse" is contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the A nerve is an enclosed cable-like bundle of peripheral Axons (the long slender projections of Neurons. In Biology, an organ ( Latin: organum, "instrument tool" from Greek όργανον - organon "organ instrument Their similarity to colonial choanoflagellates shows the probable evolutionary jump from unicellular to multicellular organisms. The choanoflagellates are a group of free-living unicellular and colonial Flagellate Eukaryotes considered to be the closest living relatives of the Animals A microorganism (also spelled micro organism or micro-organism and also called a microbe) is an Organism that is Microscopic (usually Multicellular organisms are Organisms consisting of more than one cell, and having Differentiated cells that perform specialized functions However, recent genomic studies suggest they are not the most ancient lineage of animals, but may instead be secondarily simplified.

There are over 5,000 modern species of sponges known, and they can be found attached to surfaces anywhere from the intertidal zone to as deep as 8,500 m (29,000 feet) or further. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Though the fossil record of sponges dates back to the Neoproterozoic Era, new species are still commonly discovered. FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1000 to 542 +/- 0

Contents

Anatomy and morphology

Sponge in Tide pool
Sponge in Tide pool
Aphrocallistes vastus (Cloud sponge) is a type of glass sponge. They are very fragile, as they are made out of tiny glass crystals (hydrated silica dioxide).
Aphrocallistes vastus (Cloud sponge) is a type of glass sponge. Tide pools (also tidal pools, rock pools or rock and roll pools) are rocky pools by Oceans that are filled with Seawater. They are very fragile, as they are made out of tiny glass crystals (hydrated silica dioxide). Hydrated silica is a form of Silicon dioxide, which has a variable amount of water in the formula [1]

Sponges have several cell types:

Sponges have three body types: asconoid, syconoid, and leuconoid. In Biology, matrix (plural matrices) is the material between animal or plant cells, the material (or tissue in which more specialized structures are embedded Asconoid is one of three possible body plans for sponges, which form the Phylum Porifera in kingdom Animalia and subkingdom Parazoa

Asconoid sponges are tubular with a central shaft called the spongocoel. A spongocoel (ˈspɒŋgəˌsiːl is the large central cavity of sponges Water enters into the spongocoel through hundreds of tiny pores ( Ostia) and exits through The beating of flagella forces water into the spongocoel through pores in the body wall. Choanocytes line the spongocoel and filter nutrients out of the water.

Syconoid sponges are similar to asconoids. They have a tubular body with a single osculum, but the body wall is thicker and more complex than that of asconoids and contains choanocyte-lined radial canals that empty into the spongocoel. Water enters through a large number of dermal ostia into incurrent canals and then filters through tiny openings called prosopyles into the radial canals. Their food is ingested by the choanocytes. Syconoids do not usually form highly branched colonies as asconoids do. During their development, syconoid sponges pass through an asconoid stage.

Leuconoid sponges lack a sperm and instead have flagellated chambers, containing choanocytes, which are led to and out of via canals.

It should be noted that these 3 body grades are useful only in describing morphology, and not in classifying sponge species, althought the asconoid and syconoid construction is present in Calcarea only[2].

Physiology

Sponges have no true circulatory system; instead, they create a water current which is used for circulation. This is an article about the rock music band "Circulatory System" Dissolved gases are brought to cells and enter the cells via simple diffusion. Diffusion is the net movement of particles (typically molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration by uncoordinated random movement Metabolic wastes are also transferred to the water through diffusion. Metabolic wastes or excretes are Substances left over from respiratory processes which cannot be used by the Organism (they are surplus or have Sponges pump remarkable amounts of water. Leuconia, for example, is a small leuconoid sponge about 10 cm tall and 1 cm in diameter. It is estimated that water enters through more than 80,000 incurrent canals at a speed of 6cm per minute. However, because Leuconia has more than 2 million flagellated chambers whose combined diameter is much greater than that of the canals, water flow through chambers slows to 3. 6cm per hour. [3] Such a flow rate allows easy food capture by the collar cells. All water is expelled through a single osculum at a velocity of about 8. For the kiss called osculum see Kiss The osculum is an excretory structure in the living sponge, a large opening to the outside 5 cm/second: a jet force capable of carrying waste products some distance away from the sponge.

Sponges of the family Cladorhizidae (order Poecilosclerida, class Demospongiae) are species usually found in deep water, but also in littoral caves in the Mediterranean (Asbestopluma hypogea), that have become carnivorous, using a strategy that has much in common with what is found in carnivorous plants such as sundew. A sea cave, also known as a littoral cave, is a type of Cave formed primarily by the Wave action of the Sea. A carnivore (ˈkɑrnɪvɔər meaning 'meat eater' ( Latin carne meaning 'flesh' and vorare meaning 'to devour' is any animal with a diet consisting The Sundews ( Drosera) comprise one of the largest genera of Carnivorous plants with over 170 Species. When small crustaceans comes in contact with their surface, they get captured by a sticky substance, or in the case of the Mediterranean species by spicules modified into raised hook-shaped spines, and then digested by migrating cells which soon covers the prey[4]. This lifestyle has caused the loss of their aquiferous system and the choanocytes, resulting in forms like the ping-pong tree sponge (Chondrocladia lampadiglobus), who don't look like typical sponges[5].

Taxonomy

A sponge in Papua New Guinea
A sponge in Papua New Guinea

Sponges are traditionally divided into classes based on the type of spicules in their skeleton. Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania This article is about the skeletal structure See also Spicule (solar physics and Spicule (glass manufacture. The three classes of sponges are bony (Calcarea), glass (Hexactenellida), and spongin (Demospongiae). The calcareous sponges of class Calcarea are members of the animal phylum Porifera, the cellular sponges Hexactinellid sponges are sponges with a Skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed silaceous Spicules, often referred to as glass sponges The Demospongiae are the largest class in the Phylum Porifera. Some taxonomists have suggested a fourth class, Sclerospongiae, of coralline sponges, but the modern consensus is that coralline sponges have arisen several times and are not closely related. Sclerosponges are sponges with a soft body that covers a hard often massive skeleton made of Calcium carbonate, either Aragonite or Calcite [6] In addition to these four, a fifth, extinct class has been proposed: Archaeocyatha. The Archaeocyatha or archaeocyathids ("ancient cups" were Sessile While these ancient animals have been phylogenetically vague for years, the current general consensus is that they were a type of sponge. Although 90% of modern sponges are demosponges, fossilized remains of this type are less common than those of other types because their skeletons are composed of relatively soft spongin that does not fossilize well. The Demospongiae are the largest class in the Phylum Porifera.

Sponge taxonomy is an area of active research, with molecular studies improving our understanding of their relationship with other animals.

Basal lineage?

Sponges are among the simplest animals. They lack gastrulated embryos, extracellular digestive cavities, nerves, muscles, tissues, and obvious sensory structures, features possessed by all other animals. Gastrulation is a phase early in the development of animal Embryos during which the morphology of the embryo is dramatically restructured by Cell migration. A nerve is an enclosed cable-like bundle of peripheral Axons (the long slender projections of Neurons. Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse" is contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism In addition, sponge choanocytes (feeding cells) appear to be a homologous to choanoflagellates, a group of unicellular and colonial protists that are believed to be the immediate precursors of animals. Choanocytes (also known as "collar cells" are cells that line the interior of Asconoid sponges that contain a central Flagellum surrounded The choanoflagellates are a group of free-living unicellular and colonial Flagellate Eukaryotes considered to be the closest living relatives of the Animals The traditional conclusion is that sponges are the basal lineage of the animals, and that features such as tissues developed after sponges and other animals diverged. Sponges were first assigned their own subkingdom, the Parazoa, but more recent molecular studies suggested that the sponges were paraphyletic to other animals, with the eumetazoa as a sister group to the most derived:[7]

most Demosponges



Calcareous sponges



Homoscleromorpha demosponges


Eumetazoa




Either way, sponges have long been considered useful models of the earliest multicellular ancestors of animals. The Parazoa are an ancestral subkingdom of Animals literally translated as "beside the animals" In Phylogenetics, a group of organisms is said to be paraphyletic if the group contains its most recent common ancestor but does not contain all The Demospongiae are the largest class in the Phylum Porifera. The calcareous sponges of class Calcarea are members of the animal phylum Porifera, the cellular sponges Homoscleromorpha is a subclass of marine Demosponges containing a single order Homosclerophorida and a single family Plakinidae. Eumetazoa is a Clade comprising all major Animal groups except sponges Characteristics of eumetazoans include true tissues organized into

. . . or secondarily simplified?

However, a phylogenomic study in 2008 of 150 genes in 21 genera[8] suggests that the ctenophora are the most basal lineage of the 21 taxa sampled, and that sponges—or at least those lines of sponges investigated so far—are not primitive, but secondarily simplified, having lost tissues and other eumetazoan characteristics from their common ancestor. The phylum Ctenophora (tɨˈnɒfərə commonly known as comb jellies, is a phylum that includes the Sea gooseberry ( Pleurobrachia pileus) and

Geological history

Fossil sponge Raphidonema faringdonense from the Cretaceous of England
Fossil sponge Raphidonema faringdonense from the Cretaceous of England
Sponge borings and encrusters on a modern bivalve shell, North Carolina.
Sponge borings and encrusters on a modern bivalve shell, North Carolina.

The fossil record of sponges is not abundant. FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. Some fossil sponges have worldwide distribution, while others are restricted to certain areas. Sponge fossils such as Hydnoceras and Prismodictya are found in the Devonian rocks of New York state. The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era spanning from to  million years ago. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous In Europe the Jurassic limestone of the Swabian Alb are composed largely of sponge remains, some of which are well preserved. The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Ma (million years ago to  Ma that is from the end of the Triassic to the beginning Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 The Swabian Alb (Schwäbische Alb is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km Many sponges are found in the Cretaceous Lower Greensand and Chalk Formations of England, and in rocks from the upper part of the Cretaceous period in France. The Cretaceous (kriːˈteɪʃəs, usually abbreviated 'K' for its German translation "Kreide" is a geologic period and system, reaching from the end of The Chalk Formations of Europe are thick deposits of Chalk, a soft porous white Limestone, deposited in a marine environment during the upper Cretaceous England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A famous locality for fossil sponges is the Cretaceous Faringdon Sponge Gravels in Faringdon, Oxfordshire in England. Faringdon is a Market town in the Vale of White Horse, in Oxfordshire, England. History See also History of Oxfordshire The county of Oxfordshire was formed in the early years of the 10th century and is broadly situated in the England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland An older sponge is the Cambrian Vauxia. The Cambrian is a geologic period and system that began about Ma (million years ago at the end of the Proterozoic eon and ended about Ma with Vauxia is an extinct genus of a large branching sponge Each branch was comprised of a network of strands Sponges have long been important agents of bioerosion in shells and carbonate rocks. Bioerosion describes the Erosion of hard ocean substrates by living organisms by a number of mechanisms Their borings extend back to the Ordovician in the fossil record. The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic era, and covers the time between 488

Fossil sponges differ in size from 1 cm (0. 4 inches) to more than 1 meter (3. 3 feet). They vary greatly in shape, being commonly vase-shapes (such as Ventriculites), spherical (such as Porosphaera), saucer-shaped (such as Astraeospongia), pear-shaped (such as Siphonia), leaf-shaped (such as Elasmostoma), branching (such as Doryderma), irregular or encrusting.

Detailed identification of many fossil sponges relies on the study of thin sections.

Ecology

Modern sponges are predominantly marine, with some 150 species adapted to freshwater environments. Their habitats range from the inter-tidal zone to depths of 6,000 metres (19,680 feet). Certain types of sponges are limited in the range of depths at which they are found. Sponges are worldwide in their distribution, and range from waters of the polar regions to the tropical regions. Sponges are most abundant in both numbers of individuals and species in warmer waters.

Adult sponges are largely sessile, and live in an attached position. However, it has been noted that certain sponges can move slowly by directing their water current in a certain direction with myocytes. The greatest numbers of sponges are usually to be found where a firm means of fastening is provided, such as on a rocky ocean bottom. Some kinds of sponges are able to attach themselves to soft sediment by means of a root-like base. Sponges also live in quiet clear waters, because if the sediment is agitated by wave action or by currents, it tends to block the pores of the animal, lessening its ability to feed and survive.

Recent evidence suggests that a new disease called Aplysina red band syndrome (ARBS) is threatening sponges in the Caribbean. [1] Aplysina red band syndrome causes Aplysina to develop one or more rust-coloured leading edges to their structure, sometimes with a surrounding area of necrotic tissue so that the lesion causes a contiguous band around some or all of the sponge's branch.

Reproduction

Sponges can reproduce sexually or asexually. The Evolution of sexual reproduction is a major puzzle The first Fossilized evidence of sexually reproducing Organisms is from Eukaryotes of the Stenian Asexual reproduction is a form of reproduction which does not involve Meiosis, Ploidy reduction or Fertilization.

Asexual reproduction is through internal and external budding. Budding (also called burgeoning) is the formation of a new Organism by the protrusion of part of another organism External budding occurs when the parent sponge grows a bud on the outside of its body. This will either break away or stay connected. Internal budding occurs when archaeocytes collect in the mesohyl and become surrounded by spongin. Spongin is a type of Collagen Protein that forms the fibrous Skeleton of most organisms among the Phylum Porifera, the sponges The internal bud is called a gemmule, and this is seen only in the freshwater sponge family, the Spongillidae. Gemmules are internal Buds found in freshwater sponges and are the result of Asexual reproduction, and resemble round food-filled balls An asexually reproduced sponge has exactly the same genetic material as the parent.

In sexual reproduction, sperm are dispersed by water currents and enter neighboring sponges. The term sperm is derived from the Greek word (σπέρμα sperma (meaning "seed" and refers to the male reproductive cells. All sponges of a particular species release their sperm at approximately the same time. Fertilization occurs internally, in the mesohyl. Fertilized oocytes develop within the mesohyl. Cleavage stages are highly varied within and between groups, sometimes even within a single species. Larval development usually involves an odd type of morphogenetic movement termed an inversion of layers. When this occurs in some species (for example, in Sycon coactum ), the larva flips into the choanocyte chamber, and then can emerge via the water canal system and out through the osculum.

Although sponges are hermaphroditic (both male and female), they are not self-fertile. A hermaphrodite is an organism having both male and female reproductive organs Most sponges are sequential hermaphrodites, capable of producing eggs or sperm, but not both at the same time.

Use

By dolphins

In 1997, use of sponges as a tool was described in Bottlenose Dolphins in Shark Bay. A broader definition of a tool is an entity used to interface between two or more domains that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other The Bottlenose Dolphin is one of the most common and well-known Dolphins. A dolphin will attach a marine sponge to its rostrum, which is presumably then used to protect it when searching for food in the sandy sea bottom. A rostrum ( Latin for "beak" is an anatomical structure resembling a bird's beak, such as the snout of a Crocodile or Dolphin "Ocean Floor" redirects here For the 2001 song by Audio Adrenaline, see Lift (Audio Adrenaline album. [9] The behaviour, known as sponging, has only been observed in this bay, and is almost exclusively shown by females. This is the only known case of tool use in marine mammals outside of Sea Otters. Marine mammals are a diverse group of roughly 120 species of Mammal that are primarily Ocean -dwelling or depend on the ocean for food The sea otter ( Enhydra lutris) is a Marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. An elaborate study in 2005 showed that mothers most likely teach the behaviour to their daughters. [10]

By humans

Natural Sponges in Tarpon Springs, Florida
Natural Sponges in Tarpon Springs, Florida

Skeleton as absorbent

Main article: Sponge (tool)

In common usage, the term sponge is applied to the skeleton of the animal, from which the tissue has been removed by maceration and washing, leaving just the spongin scaffolding. A sponge is a Tool, Implement, Utensil or cleaning aid consisting of porous material Maceration is a bone preparation technique whereby parts of a Vertebrate corpse are left to Rot inside a closed container at near-constant temperature to get Spongin is a type of Collagen Protein that forms the fibrous Skeleton of most organisms among the Phylum Porifera, the sponges Calcareous and siliceous sponges are too harsh for similar use. Calcium (ˈkælsiəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Ca and Atomic number 20 The Chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica or silox (from the Latin " Silex " is an Oxide Commercial sponges are derived from various species and come in many grades, from fine soft "lamb's wool" sponges to the coarse grades used for washing cars.

The manufacture of rubber-, plastic- and cellulose-based synthetic sponges has significantly reduced the commercial sponge fishing industry in recent years. Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products Cellulose is an Organic compound with the formula, a Polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β(1→4 For the computer security term see Phishing. Fishing is the activity of catching Fish.

The luffa "sponge", also spelled loofah, commonly sold for use in the kitchen or the shower, is not derived from an animal sponge, but from the locules of a gourd (Cucurbitaceae). The Luffa or Loofah / Lufah (from Arabic لوف are tropical and subtropical Vines comprising the genus Luffa. A locule (pl loculi; from Latin loculus, meaning "little place" is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism ( Cucurbitaceae is a Plant family commonly known as Melons, gourds or cucurbits and includes crops like Cucumbers

Antibiotic compounds

Sponges have medicinal potential due to the presence of antimicrobial compounds in either the sponge itself or their microbial symbionts. Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the An antimicrobial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of Microbes such as Bacteria, Fungi, or Viruses. This article is about the biological phenomenon for other uses see Symbiosis (disambiguation The term symbiosis (from the Greek [11]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Department of Biological Sciences - Studies in Life Sciences, University of Alberta: Glass Sponge Ecology, accessed March 16, 2008
  2. ^ Animal Diversity Web - Class Calcarea
  3. ^ See Hickman and Roberts (2001) Integrated principles of zoology — 11th ed. , p. 247
  4. ^ Predation on copepods by an Alaskan cladorhizid sponge
  5. ^ Carnivorous sponges
  6. ^ R. C. Brusca and G. J. Brusca (2003). Invertebrates. Second Edition. Sunderland, Mass. : Sinauer Associates.  
  7. ^ Sperling, E. A. ; Peterson, K. J. (2007). "Poriferan paraphyly and its implications for Precambrian paleobiology". J Geol Soc London.  
  8. ^ Dunn et al. (2008). "Broad phylogenomic sampling improves resolution of the animal tree of life". Nature 452: 745. doi:10.1038/nature06614. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.  
  9. ^ Smolker, R. A. , et al. . "Sponge-carrying by Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins: Possible tool-use by a delphinid }".  
  10. ^ Krutzen M, Mann J, Heithaus MR, Connor RC, Bejder L, Sherwin WB (2005). "Cultural transmission of tool use in bottlenose dolphins". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102 (25): 8939–8943. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, usually referred to as PNAS, is the official journal of the United  
  11. ^ See e. g. Teeyapant R, Woerdenbag HJ, Kreis P, Hacker J, Wray V, Witte L, Proksch P. (1993) Antibiotic and cytotoxic activity of brominated compounds from the marine sponge Verongia aerophoba. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung. C, Journal of biosciences 48:939–45.

Further reading

See also

External links

Overview The NGS's historical mission is "to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's cultural historical and natural Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States.

Dictionary

sponge

-noun

  1. (countable) Any of various marine invertebrates, mostly of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
  2. (countable) A piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).
  3. (uncountable) A porous material such as sponges consist of.
  4. (informal) A heavy drinker.
  5. (countable, uncountable) A type of light cake; sponge cake.
  6. (countable, uncountable, UK) A type of steamed pudding.
  7. (slang) A person who takes advantage of the generosity of others (abstractly imagined to absorb or soak up the money or efforts of others like a sponge).

-verb

  1. (slang) To take advantage of the kindness of others.
  2. To clean, soak up, or dab with a sponge.
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