Poriferans

What are Poriferans?

• Poriferans are sea sponges. Although they make up a small part of the animal kingdom, there are still at least 5000 species of poriferans. Sea sponges are actually animals that contain many pores and stick to one spot on the ocean floor. Although an animal, they don’t possess any organs and feed off of phytoplankton, bacteria, in the water. Other than that, how do they survive from predators by just staying in one spot?

How do they move and defend themselves?

• Though the sea sponges stay in one spot, they still have some defense mechanisms. They have an unappealing taste which discourages sea animals to not eat the sea sponge because they contain toxins and they are actually a little bit spiky which doesn’t digest well. However, there are a few predators that still eat the sea sponge. The nudibranch and the hawksbill sea turtle can bypass the toxins of the sea sponge.