Y: Umm, well, like other animals sponges produce sperm, which can fertilize egg cells in another individual. The flow carries particles of food, and oxygen too, into the sponge to be captured by its cells.ĭ: What about sex? If they are animals, there must be males and females. Y: Sponges pump water through the hollow canals of their porous bodies, using microscopic beating hairs on special collar cells lining the canals. Sponges can't do this, although a few species host cyanobacteria that can.ĭ: If they can neither move nor photosynthesize, then how do they eat?

Plants feed by capturing solar energy in the process of photosynthesis. Their larvae move by swimming or crawling.

That seems more like a plant than an animal to me. Others cells inhabit the jelly and produce its skeleton.ĭ: But, sponges are anchored in place and don't move. The 'balloon' is made of layers of cells. Their bodies are like balloons full of jelly.

Cleaning and bath sponges were originally made from their flexible protein skeletons. Cleaning sponges today are typically made from cellulose or plastic. Y: Oh, Don, those usually aren't even real sponges. Y: Hey Don, how would you like to hear about an animal stranger than most science fiction aliens?ĭ: Sponges? You must be kidding.

How does a sea sponge move