ii.

Fungi kingdom
 Unicellular or multicellular organisms with eukaryotic cell types
 Cell are not organized into tissues but have cell walls
 Do not carry out photosynthesis and obtain nutrients through
absorption
 E.g., sac fungi, club fungi, yeasts and molds
iii. Plantae kingdom
 Multicellular organisms composed of eukaryotic cells
 Cells are organized into tissues and have cell walls
 Obtain nutrients by photosynthesis and absorption
 E.g., mosses, ferns, conifers, flowering plants
iv. Animalia kingdom
 Multicellular organisms composed of eukaryotic cells
 Cells are organized into tissues and lack cell walls
 Do not carry out photosynthesis and obtain nutrients primarily by
ingestion
 E.g., sponges, worms, insects and vertebrates

 General characteristics of Protozoa

 Mostly microscopic, unicellular, solitary or colonial
 Body mostly naked or covered with pellicle, but in some forms covered with
shell and often provided simple endoskeleton
 Organs and tissues absent, specialized organelles present, single or multiple
nucleus
 Symmetry – asymmetry but exhibit variety of shape (spherical, oval, elongated
and flattened)
 Protoplasm – differentiated into inner endoplasm and outer ectoplasm
 Locomotion – pseudopodia, flagella, cilia, some are sessile forms
 Nutrition - autotrophic, heterotrophic and saprozoic
 Habitat – aquatic or terrestrial, free-living or symbiotic mode of life
 Respiraton – general body surface
 Excretion – body surface or through a temporary opening in ectoplasm or
permanent opening called cytopyge
 Reproduction – asexually by fission, budding, sexually by conjugation or by
syngamy (union of male and female gametes to form a zygote); some with multi-
cellular stages in their life cycle
 No physiological division of labour
  Classification of Protozoa

Protista (Kingdom)

Protozoa (Sub Kingdom)

Phylum

Sarcomastigophora Labyrinthomorpha Apicomplexa Myxozoa Microspora Acetospora Ciliophora

Sub Phylum Class

Sporozoa

Mastigophora Opalinata Sarcodina Sub-Class

(i)Opalinida Super-Class
Class e.g. Opalina
Gregarina Coccidia
Rhizopoda
(i) Eugregarina (i) Eucoccidea
Class e.g., Monocystis, e.g., Plasmodium
Zoomastigophora Phytomastigophora Gregarina

Order Rhizopoda Granuloreticulosa

(i) Kinetoplastida
Order
e.g. Leishmania, Trypanosoma (i) Foraminiferida
(i) Amoebida
e.g. Amoeba, e.g., Elphidium
(ii) Diplomonadida e.g. Giardia (Polystomella),
Entamoeba
Globigerina
(iii) Trichomonadida
(ii) Arcellinida
e.g., Trichomonas
e.g. Arcella
(iv) Hypermastigada
e.g., Trichonympha Order Class

(i) Dinoflagellata
e.g. Noctiluca Holotrichia Peritrichia Spirotrichia
Ceratium

(ii) Euglenida e.g. Euglena Order

(iii) Volvocida (i) Trichostomida (i) Peritrichida (i) Heterotrichida
e.g., Volvox e.g. Balantidium, e.g. Vortecilla e.g. Stentor
Nyctotherus

(ii) Hymenostomida
e.g. Paramoceium
 Phylum : Sarcomastigophora
 Unicellular or colonial
 Nutrition – autotrophic or heterotrophic
 Locomotion – Pseudopodia or flagella or both
 Nucleus – single or multiple
 Reproduction
 Asexual – binary fission
 Sexual – syngamy
 Classified into three sub-phyla:

 Mastigophora
 Opalinata
 Sarcodina

1. Sub-phylum: Mastigophora
 Body covered with thin pellicle
 Membranous shell of chitin, cellulose or silica
 One of more whip like flagella present for locomotion and food capturing
 Psuedopodia – may or may not be present
 One nucleus present
 Nutrition – autotrophic by phototrophy, heterotrophic by osmotrophy or
mixotrophic
 Reproduction – asexual reproduction by symmetrogenic longitudinal binary
fission, sexual reproduction may take place in some cases
 Habitat – free living, solitary or colonial, some parasitic
 Mastigophora are classified into the following classes:
 Class – Zoomastigophora
 Class – Phytomastigophora
 Class Zoomastigophora
 Nutrition – Holozoic or saprozoic
 Flagella – one or many present, Flagellates without chromoplasts
 Some amoeboid forms with or without flagella
 Predominantly symbiotic
 Divided into following orders
 Kinetoplastida
 Diplomonadida
  Trichomonadida
 Hypermastigida
 Order: Kinetoplastida
 Kinetoplast (cellular organelle that functions in association with
kinetosome at the base of flagellum, derived from mitochondiron) is
present
 Fallega – in range of one to four present
 Mostly parasitic
 E.g. Leishmania, Trypanosoma
 Leishmania:
 Oval or Spherical, 1-3 micron in diameter with limiting membrane –
pellicle
 Cytoplasm contains an oval nucleus, rod shaped or dot like kinetoplast
and parabasal body
 Reproduction – binary fission
 Causes disease in human. Disease transmitted by sand flies.
1. L. donovi – kala azar (characterised by enlargment of liver, spleem
and irregular fever, anemia and lucopenia
2. L. brassiliensis – mucocutaneous American leishmaniasis
3. L. tropica - oriental sores or Delhi boils

 Trypanosoma:
 Slender, elongated, colourless, sickle shaped and flattened microscopic
body, tapering at both ends.
 Body covered with pellicle, with single flagellum
 A single oval or spherical nucleus in the middle of body
 Live as parasite in blood of mammals
 Some are non pathogenic but others produce severe disease in humans
and domestic animals.
 Trypanosoma b. rhodesiense causes African sleeping sickness,
transmitted by tsetse flies.
 Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chaga’s disease, transmitted by kissing bugs
Triatominae.
 Order: Diplomonadida
 Bilaterally symmetrical flagellates with 2 nuclei
 Each nucleus is associated with four flagellates
 Mostly parasitic
 E.g. Giardia
 Giardia:
 Dorsal side convex, flattened ventrally, anterior end rounded while
posterior end is pointed
 well studied parasite
 Some species live in the human digestive tract but others are found in
birds and amphibians too
 Causes discomforting diarrhea.
 Cysts are passed in the feces and new hosts are infected by ingestion of
cysts, often in contaminated water.

 Order: Trichomonadida
 Parasitic flagellates with 2-4 flagella
 Minute, oval or elongated and covered with delicate pellicle
 Mouth is elongate and slit like
 Nuclei one or many with parabasal bodies and exostyle
 E.g., Trichomonas
 Trichomonas:
 Medical or veterinary importance
 Lives in colon and caecum of humans
 Infects the urogenital tract and is responsible for sexually transmitted
disease
  Order : Hypermastigida
 Ovoid or elnogated
 Inhabit in alimentary canal of termites, cockroaches, wood roach
 Multiflagellated – spiral or tuft or all over
 Single nucleus
 E.g. Trichonympha
 Trichonympha:
 Ovoid or elnogated
 Inhabit in alimentary canal of termites, cockroaches, wood roach
 Multiflagellated – spiral or tuft or all over
 Single nucleus
 +nt in hindgut of termites
 Symbionat
 Helps in digestion of cellulose

 Class Phytomastigophora
 Plant like flagellates bearing chromoplast
 Habitat – free living, solitary or colonial zooids
 Classified into three orders
 Dinoflagellata
 Euglenida
 Volvocida
 Order: Dinoflagellata
 Most are marine plankton, but common in fresh water habitat as well
 Shape is irregular, naked or covered by simple membrane
 Two flagellae are present
 Nucleus single, massive and complex
 Numerous small, yellow, brown or greenish chromatophores are
present
 Nutrition – holophytic or holozoic
 Some forms are bioluminescent or phosphorescent
 E.g., Ceratium, Noctiluca
  Ceratium:
 It has a thick covering with long spines, into which the body
extends.
 Can catch food with posterior pseudopodia and ingest it between
the flexible plates in the posterior groove

 Noctiluca:
 A colorless dinoflagellate with a long motile tentacle.
 Short single flagellum arises from the base of the tentacle
 Produces light (bioluminescence).

 Order : Euglenida
 Elongate or spindle shaped flagellates of moderate size and definite
shape
 Soft or rigid pellicle is present
 Cytopharynx is present from where two flagella arise
 Single vesicular nucleus is present
 Chromatophores are present
 Nutrition – holophytic, holozoic or saprozoic
 Reproduction – asexual reproduction by binary fission
 E.g. Euglena
 Euglena:
 Spindle shaped, with flagellum.
 Nutrition is autotrophic (holophytic) but saprozoic in dark conditions
 Reproduces by binary fission.
 Freshwater habitat, commonly studied in introductory zoology course
 Order : Volvocida

 Small elongate or oval shaped flagellates enclosed in a semi cellulose

membrane
 1-8 flagella may be present
 Single large cup shaped green chromatophores and two small contractile
vacuoles are present
 Red stigma and simple vesicular nucleus present
 Nutrition – holophytic or saprozoic
 Starch and oil are reserve food materials
 Reproduction – sexual or asexual
 Chiefly fresh water, solitary or colonic forms
 E.g. Volvox
 Volvox:
 Green hollows sphere, containing thousands of cells (zooids).
 Each cell is with a nucleus, a pair of flagella, a large chloroplast and a red
stigma.
 Division of labour limited to nutrition, locomotion and reproduction.
 Reproduction is sexual or asexual.


2. Subphylum – Opalinata
 Relatively large in size (upto 1 mm) and characterized by the presence of
numerous short flagellae which look like cilia, in oblique rows over entire
body surface
 Cytostome (mouth) is absent.
 More than one nucleus of same type is present
 Sexual reproduction through flagellated gametes
 Includes the order opalinada
a. Order : Opalinada
 Body is simple, oval, flattened or cylindrical and uniformly covered with
cilia
 Mouth and contractile vacuoles are absent
 Ectocommensals or intestinal parasites of amphibians and fishes
 E.g., Opalina
  Opalina:
 Body is leaf like in shape, lacks mouth and contractile vacuoles,
numerous nuclei, covered with flagelliform cilia,
 Obligate endosymbionts, more of commensalim,
 Found in intestine of frogs and toads,
 Mode of nutrition - saprozoic

3. Subphylum : Sarcodina
 Possess pseudopodia and are flagellated only in the developmental stages
 Cytoplasm composed of ectoplasm and endoplasm, may contain more than
one nucleus
 Spherical or irregular in shape
 External shell (foraminiferan) or skeleton (radiolarian) may be present
 Free living or parasitic forms, mostly solitary and rarely colonial
 Includes superclass Rhizopoda
 Super class : Rhizopoda
 Move by lobopodia, filopodia or reticulopodi or by cytoplasmic flow
 Creeping forms
 Holozoic mode of feeding
 Includes the following two classes
 Lobosea
 Granuloreticulosa
1. Class : Lobosea
 Pseudopodia are lobose or more or less filiform produced from a
broader lobe
 Usually uninucleate
 Includes the following orders:
 Amoebidea
 Arcellinida
a. Order : Amoebida
 Pseudopodia arise at any point
 Uninucleate without any external covering
 Free livng and few are parasites
 E.g., Amoeba, Entamoeba
  Amoeba:
 Able to assume a variety of body forms due to flowing cell
cytoplasm
 Cytoplasm can be extended outward in pseudopodia of various
forms
 Make shells called testate.


b. Order : Arcellinida
 Lobose amoebae partially enclosed in a simple test or shell
 Pseudopodia protrude out through fixed apertures on the shell
 Commonly found in soils, leaf litter, peat bogs and near/in fresh
water
 Reproduce asexually via binary fission
 E.g., Arcella
 Arcella:
 Have their delicate plasma membrane covered with a protective
test or shell of secreted siliceous or chitinoid material that may be
reinforced with grains of sand.
 Move by means of pseudopodia.

2. Class : Granuloreticulosa
 Psuedopodia are thin, reticular and granular
 Includes the order Foraminiferida
a. Order : Foraminiferida
 Shells having one or more chambers (loricae)
 Dominantly marine protozoans, with a secreted shell enclosing the
amoeboid body
 Psuedopodia, thread like extensions of the ectoplasm form a delicate
anastomosing network
 Shells are important component of marine sediments and fossilize well
 Post death of foraminiferans, empty calcareous tests sink and form the
so-called foraminiferal ooze
  E.g., Elphidium, Globigerina
 Elphidium:
 The shell is lenticular, composed of finely perforate, bilamellar,
optically radial, or less commonly granular, calcite, planspirally
enrolled.
 Reproduction could be asexual (fission) or sexual (syngamy).
 Different species are used to date rocks.


 Globigerina :
 Abundant shelled amebas
 Bears reticulopodia – branched filaments that merge to form a netlike
structure
 Found in abundance in atlantic ocean

 Phylum : Apicomplexa
 Possess a unique organelle called apicoplast and an apical complex structure
involved in penetrating a host’s cell
 Unicellular and spore-forming
 Exclusively parasites of animals
 Motile structures such as flagella or pseudopodia are absent except in certain
gamete stages
 Class : Sporozoa
 Parasitic protozoans that lack locomotor organs
 Intracellular parasites
 Pass from host to host in protective capsules called spores which enclose zygotes
or juvenile states
 Includes the following sub-class:
  Gregarinia
 Coccidia
1. Sub-class : Gregarinia
 Extracellular parasites in the digestive tracts of invertebrates
 Anterior part sometimes possesses hooks, suckers, simple filaments for
anchoring the parasite to the cells of the host
 Life cycle can be completed in single host species
 Sexual reproduction with sporogonia
a. Order : Eugregarinida
 Common parasites of invertebrates such as the arthropods and annelids
 Only sexual reproduction occurs in the life history
 Schizogony (multiple asexual fission) is lacking
 E.g., Monocystis, Gregarina
 Monocystis:
 Endoparasite in the seminal vesicle and coelom of earthworms, the only
host.
 Feeding stage is call trophozoite.
 Spindle-shaped, body covered with pellicle containing longitudinal contractile
fibres called myonemes which help in metabolic locomotion.
 Single nucleus.
 Nutrition is saprozoic.


 Gregarina :
 Parasitic in annelids and arthropods,
 lacks schizogony (the asexual reproduction of a sporozoite by multiple fission
within the body of the host, giving rise to merozoites, as in malaria)
 2. Sub-class : Coccidia
 Microscopic, spore forming and single celled parasites
 Infects the intestinal tracts of animals
 Largest group of apicomplexan protozoa
 Obligate and intracellular parasites (they must live and reproduce within an
animal cell)
a. Order : Eucoccidea
 Live as parasites in the epithelial and blood cells of invertebrates and vertebrates
 Schizogony is present
 Alteration of sexual and asexual phases in life cycles is observed
 E.g. Plasmodium
 Plasmodium:
 Causative organism of malaria in humans, sometimes grave complications
such as cerebral malaria.
 Parasite is carried by mosquitoes (Anopheles) and sporozoites are injected
into a human with the insect’s saliva during its bite.
 Sporozoites penetrate liver cells and initiate schizogony.

Sporozoites injected by mosquito

migrating to liver in human

 Phylum : Ciliphora
 Presence of simple cilia or compound ciliary organelles for locomotion
 Found in lakes, ponds, rivers and soil
 Cilia used for swimming, crawling, attachment, feeding and sensation
 Have two nuclei, a trophic macronucleus and a reproductive micronucleus
 Reproduce by binary fission or conjugation
 Nutrition – mixotrophic or heterotrophic
 Include the following three classes:
 Holotrichia
 Peritrichia
 Spirotrichia
1. Class : Holotrichia
 Ciliate protozoans
 Uniform distribution of cilia on their cells
 Inconspicuous buccal ciliature is present in some
 Includes two orders:
  Trichostomoatida
 Hymenostomatida
a. Order : Trichostomatida
 Generally body ciliature is uniform but may be asymmetrical in some cases
 Buccal ciliature is absent in oral area
 E.g., Balantidium, Nyctotherus
 Nyctotherus:
 single celled eukaryote, has hydrogen producing mictochondria, lives
in the hind gut of cockroaches.
 Two types of nuclei – micronucleus and macronucles.
 Presence of vacuole at the posterior end.
 Abundant in aqueous environment and grow as symbionts,
commensals and parasites.


 Balantidium:
 Oval shaped body, covered with peristomial cilia at the anterior end.
 Presence of two nucleus – micronucleus and macronucleus,
contractile vacuole
 Lives in large intestine of humans, pigs, rats and many other
mammals.
 Transmission is by fecal contamination of food or water.
 Causes dysentery in humans, could be serious and fatal.
 Common in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
b. Order : Hymenostomatida
 Often small size organism with uniform ciliation
 First to possess a definite buccal ciliature
 Tetrahymenal or four-part buccal ciliary apparatus are present
 Free living fresh water forms
 E.g., Paramecium
 Paramecium:
 Slipper shaped 150-300 um in length and is blunt anteriorly and
pointed posteriorly.
 Asymmetrical appearance, pellicle is clear and covered with cilia.
 Holozoic and live on bacteria, algae and othr small organisms.
 Reproduction – binary fission and conjugation.

2. Class : Peritrichia
 Body ciliature is absent in mature forms
 Apical oral ciliature is conspicuous and winds counter-clockwise
 Body is attached by a contractile stalk or basal disc for attachment to
substratum
 Includes a single order:
 Peritirichida
a. Order : Peritrichida
 Bell or disc shaped
 Prominent paraoral membrane rising from the oral cavity
 Oral cavity is apical and funnel shaped with a contractile vacuole
 Cilia limited to zone surrounding the mouth opening
 Rest of the body is unciliated, except for a telotroch band circling the
posterior in mobile species and stages
 E.g. Vorticella
  Vorticella: (vortex – whirlpool)
 Bell shaped and attached by a contractile stalk which allows great
expansion and contraction,
 macronuclei long and curved.

3. Class : Spirotrichia
 Presence of conspicuous right and left oral or preoral ciliature
 Cytostome may be deep or shallow
 Some species live inside loricae (tubes secreted by themselves)
a. Order: Heterotrichida
 External ciliature is uniform
 Have large size body
 In some cases pigment are present
 E.g. Stentor
 Stentor:
 trumpet shaped and solitary,
 contractile fibrils in ectoplasm allow great expansion and contraction
 macronuclei in a shape of strings of beads
Phylum Porifera

1
General Characters

 Poriferans or sponges are sedentary and marine organisms except one family
Spongillidae which is exclusively found in fresh water
 Multicellular; body an aggregation of several types of cells differentiated for various
functions, some of which are organized into incipient tissues of a low level of integration
 Body shape “vase” or cylindrical type, asymmetrical or radially symmetrical

 Body with pores, canals, and chambers that form a unique system of water currents on
which sponges depend for food and oxygen

2
 The surface of the body is perforated by numerous pores called ostia through which the
water enters the body and one more large opening the osculum located on the distal end
of the body water passes out.
 Outer surface of fl at pinacocytes; most interior surfaces lined with flagellated collar
cells (choanocytes) that create water currents; a gelatinous protein matrix called mesohyl
contains amebocytes of various types and skeletal elements
 Choanocytes, which line flagellated canals and chambers, are ovoid cells with one end
embedded in mesohyl and the other exposed. The exposed end bears a flagellum
surrounded by a collar. The collar is composed of adjacent microvilli, connected to each
other by delicate microfibrils, forming a fine filtering device for straining food particles
from water. The beating flagellum pulls water through the sieve like collar and forces it
out through the open top of the collar. Particles too large to enter the collar become
trapped in secreted mucus and slide down the collar to the base where they are
phagocytized by the cell body
 Skeletal structure of fibrillar collagen (a protein) and calcareous or siliceous crystalline
spicules, often combined with variously modified collagen (spongin).

 No organs or true tissues; digestion intracellular; excretion and respiration by diffusion

 Reactions to stimuli apparently local and independent in cellular sponges nervous system
probably absent, regenerative properties present
 All adults sessile and attached to substratum
 Asexual reproduction by budding (external bud) or gemmules (internal bud or mass
asexually reproduced cells that are capable of developing new organism ) and sexual
reproduction by eggs and sperm; fertilization internal, holoblastic cleavage, free-

3
 swimming flagellated larvae swims from sometime and then get attached with solid
substratum and develop in baby sponge
 The capture of food depends on the movement of water through the body. There are three
main designs for the sponge body differing in the placement of the choanocytes.
 In the simplest asconoid system, water is drawn into the sponge through microscopic
dermal pores by the beating of large numbers of flagella on the choanocytes. These
choanocytes line the internal cavity known as the spongocoel. As the choanocytes filter
the water and extract food particles from it, used water is expelled through a single
large osculum .
 This design has distinct limitations because choanocytes line the spongocoel and can
collect food only from water directly adjacent to the spongocoel wall.
 Whenever the spongocoel is large, most of the water and food present in the central
cavity would be inaccessible to choanocytes. Thus, asconoid sponges are small and tube-
shaped

 Syconoid sponges have a tubular body and single osculum, with spongocoel lining, is
thicker and more complex.

4
 The lining has been folded outward to make choanocyte-lined canals. Folding the body
wall into canals increases the surface area of the wall and thus increases the surface area
covered by choanocytes.
 Water enters the syconoid body through dermal ostia that lead into incurrent canals. It
then filters through tiny openings, or prosopyles, into the radial canals. Here food is
ingested by the choanocytes. The beating of the choanocytes’s flagella forces the used
water through internal pores, or apopyles, into the spongocoel.
 Notice that food capture does not occur in the syconoid spongocoel, so it is lined with
epithelialtype cells rather than the flagellated cells present in asconoids. After the used
water reaches the spongocoel, it exits the body through an osculum.

 Leuconoid organization is the most complex of the sponge types and permits an increase
in sponge size. In the leuconoid design, the surface area of the food-collecting regions
with choanocytes is greatly increased
 Here the choanocytes line the walls of small chambers where they can effectively filter
all the water present. The sponge body is composed of an enormous number of these tiny
chambers.

5
 Clusters of flagellated chambers are filled from incurrent canals and discharge water into
excurrent canals that eventually lead to an osculum.

Class Calcispongiae (Calcarea)

 Radially symmetrical, vase shaped body measuring up to 10 cm in height

 Calcareous spicules of calcium carbonate that often form a fringe around the
osculum (main water outlet)
 Spicules monaxon, triaxon or tetraaxon
 all three types of canal systems (asconoid, syconoid, leuconoid) represented
 all marine and shallow water species

Order Homocoela

 The order includes simplest sponges

 Body wall thin

6
  Spongocoel lined with choanocytes throughout and mostly asconoid type canal
system

e. g. Leucosolenia

 Leucosolenia is a colonial sponge occurs in the shallow waters near the sea shore
where water action is intense
 The colony of the species is white to light yellow in color with vertical tubes having
osculum at the distal end. All the tubes are connected at the base by the horizontal
tubes.
 Each tube may reach the 25 mm size
 Skeleton consist of calcareous spicules of monaxon or triaxon type
 Simple asconoid type canal system
 Asexual and sexual type of reproduction. Asexual reproduction by budding or
regeneration. Sexual reproduction by fusion of ova and sperm

e. g. Clathrina (Olynthus)

 Clathrina is sedentary marine sponge usually attached to rock or other solid object
 Body vase shaped, contracted at the base, attached with substratum by long stalk

7
  Body perforated with numerous ostia
 Skeleton consist of calcareous spicules of monaxon or tetraaxon type
 Simple asconoid type canal system
 Asexual and sexual type of reproduction. Asexual reproduction by budding. Sexual
reproduction by fusion of ova and sperm

Order Heterocoela

 Big sponges with complicated structure

 The body wall is thick folded internally, Syconoid type of canal system
 Spongocoel lined by flattened epithelial cells

e.g. Sycon or Scypha

 Sycon is simple solitary or colonial marine sponge found attached with the rock or
other hard substratum.
 The body is slender and vase shaped, measuring up to 20-30 mm in height and 5-6
mm in diameter.

8
  Each cylinder bulges in the middle and opens up in the osculum at the exterior end
 The osculum is encircled by a fringe of large monaxon spicules
 Skeleton comprises of monaxon, triaxon and tetraaxon spicules
 Syconoid type of canal system
 Asexual and sexual type of reproduction. Asexual reproduction by budding. Sexual
reproduction by fusion of ova and sperm

e.g. Grantia

 Grantia is simple marine sponge found attached with the rock or other hard
substratum.
 The body is slender and vase shaped, measuring up to 20-25 mm in height and 5-6
mm in diameter.
 Each cylinder bulges in the middle and opens up in the osculum at the exterior end
 The osculum is encircled by a fringe of large monaxon spicules forming oscular
fringe
 Skeleton comprises of monaxon, triaxon and tetraaxon spicules
 Syconoid type of canal system
 Asexual and sexual type of reproduction. Asexual reproduction by budding. Sexual
reproduction by fusion of ova and sperm

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Class Hyalospongiae or Hexactinellida Glass sponges

 Glass sponges form class Hexactinellida (or Hyalospongiae) are deep sea marine
forms
 Most are radially symmetrical, with vase- or funnel-shaped bodies usually attached by
stalks of root spicules to a substratum
 They range from 7.5 cm to more than 1.3 m in length.
 Their distinguishing features include a skeleton of six-rayed siliceous spicules that are
commonly bound together into a network forming a glasslike structure
 Syconoid type of canal system

Order Hexasterophora

 Spicules are hexasters (star like shape)

 Syconoid type of canal system
 They are not attached by root tufts but commonly attached to an object.

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e. g. Euplectella

 Euplectella is solitary animal found abundantly in deep water at the depth of 500 to
5000 meter in slow running water
 It is commonly known as “ Venus Flower Basket” because of beautiful elegant look
 It has long curved cylindrical body fixed in muddy sea bottom by a mass of long root
spicules
 The size of the individual varies from 15-30 cm length with 2-5 cm diameter
 The body skeleton consist of four and six rayed siliceous spicules which are
interlaced or fused at their tips forming a three dimensional network with parietal
gaps
 Terminal opening is closed by ocular sieve
 The parietal gaps are connected with spongocoel
 Syconoid type of canal system

Order Amphidiscophora

 The spicules are amphidisc (sate light disc at the end)

 They are attached to the substratum by root tufts

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e. g. Hylonema

 Hylonema is marine sponge found at the depth of 10-15 meter

 It is popularly known as “ Glass Rope Sponge”
 It has simple rounded or oval shape body with a simple spirally twisted root tuft
 The spicules are often fused to form a lattice like structure, giving a sponge a glass
like structure
 The spicules of the root continue through the body axis and projecting above as
gastral cone
 The middle part of the axis has symbiotic polyps attached to it
 Skeleton consists of amphidisc spicules. The outer surface are five rayed spicules

Class Demospongiae

 This group contains 95% of living sponge species, including most large sponges.
 Body asymmetrical, massive, branched and brightly colored
 Spicules are siliceous, moxoaxons and tetraaxon (eight rayed) but are not six rayed.
 Spicules may be bound together by spongin, or may be absent.
 Leuconoid type complicated canal system
 Spongocoel absent

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  Reproduction sexual and early stages free living

e. g. Tethya

 Exclusively marine, spherical in shape with tuberculate surface

 Skeleton consists of radiating bundles of monaxon spicules and asters
 Spongin fibers absent

Order Haplosclerina

 Monaxon megascleres are only one type:diactinal

 Microscleres absent
 Spongin fibers are generally present

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e.g. Chalina

 Only found in deep water, sometime found in shallow water when washed off ashore
with its stalk
 It is generally known as dead man’s finger or mermaid’s glove because it is shaped
like hand with many fingers
 Orange or red or yellowish brown in color
 Body surface flattened with finger like branches
 Each finger surface is perforated by numerous oscula
 Skeleton comprises Spongin fibers in which siliceous spicules are embedded
 Leuconoid type canal system
 Asexual and sexual reproduction

e. g. Spongilla

 Colonial fresh water sponge, found in lake, river and streams

 Growing on submerged plants or sticks
 Branched colony with green color due to the presence of zoochlorella a green algae in
tissue

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  Body wall in the form of thin dermal layer with numerous ostia and oscula
 Leuconoid type canal system
 Skeleton consists siliceous spicules in the form of network on smooth or spiny and
large or small oxeas embedded in Spongin
 Sexual and asexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction by gemmules
 Gemmules are protected in amphidisc spicules

Subclass Keratosa

 Body rounded and massive with numerous oscula

 Skeleton composed of network Spongin fibers
 Siliceous spicules are absent
 They are known as horny sponges found in warm waters of tropical and subtropical

e. g. Euspongia

 Sedentary form found attached to rock bottom

 Commonly known as bath sponge
 Massive and rounded in shape, black in color with numerous oscula on the elevated
portion of the body
 Leuconoid type canal system
 Skeleton composed of network Spongin fibers without spicules
 The bath sponge used in house hold is prepared by squeezing, bleaching and drying
of euspongia

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 holding water property of sponge is due to the presence Spongin fibers

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