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Florida Maritime Museum

Sponges

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The phylum Porifera is comprised of sponges, which are aquatic invertebrate animals. Characteristics of sponges:

  • multicellular, but do no have tissues or organs
  • sessile, meaning they do not move on their own, but live attached to rocks or other surfaces
  • filter feeders that require the flow of water through their bodies for food, oxygen, and waste removal
  • primarily marine, though some freshwater species exist