Porifera

Porifera pōrĭf´ərə [key] [Lat.,=pore bearer], animal phylum consisting of the organisms commonly called sponges . It is the only phylum of the animal subkingdom Parazoa and represents the least evolutionarily advanced group of the animal kingdom. All adult sponges are sessile (nonmotile), and nearly all are marine; there are six families of freshwater sponges. Sponges are subdivided into three classes.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Anatomy
• Reproduction
• Class Calcarea (Calcareous Sponges)
• Class Hexactinellida (Glass Sponges)
• Class Demospongiae (Demosponges)

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Zoology: Invertebrates