Porifera yelah

Osculum

A large opening on a sponge through which filtered water is expelled

Spicule

Needlelike structures that give support and protection to the sponge body and prevent small animals from entering the sponge's internal cavity

Choanocyte

Collar cells that line the body cavity and have flagella that circulate water in sponges

Amoebocyte

Transport nutrients to other cells of sponge; produces spicules.

Budding

A form of asexual reproduction in which a new organism grows out of the body of a parent. Part of the sponge can break off, attach, and regrow.

Calcarea

Porifera; Class of sponges whose spicules are made of hardened calcium carbonate.

Hexactinellida

Glass sponges. Spicules made of silica.

Demospongiae

Which class of sponges has Silica Spicules and/or Spongin (a protein)

Asconoid

1 of 3 body patterns for sponges; stalk-like spongocoel covered with a single layer of choanocytes.

Syconoid

1 of 3 body patterns for sponges; spongocoel is folded canals, canals lined with choanocytes, increases surface area.

Leuconoid

1 of 3 body patterns for sponge; no central cavity, narrow canals, many small interconnected chambers, and lots of internal surface area.

Ostia

Small in-current holes on the body of a sponge that allow water to flow into the sponge.

Pinacocytes

The outside layer of cells on a sponge that protect the sponge and form ostia.

Mesohyl Layer

The jelly-like layer below pinacocytes, where you can find mesenchyme cells (amoebocytes and other such cells).

Mesenchyme Cells

Ameboid cells moving about in mesohyl layer; for reproduction, secreting structures, food transport and storage.

Spongin

A fibrous protein made of collagen that some sponges produce that gives them a spongy and compressible body.

homoscleromorpha

simplest, blob like with no skeleton