Life History & Behaviour

For a simple organism with no nervous system, behaviour of Cliona is quite complex and the details of its behavioural mechanisms such as reproduction and feeding, is unclear. However, one component of the sponge body that appears to be consistently involved in sponge behaviour is the aquiferous system. This “all in one” system is a fundamental aspect of sponge functioning as it appears to be involved in most components of its life such as feeding, digestion, excretion, gas exchange and internal transport (Ruppert et al. 2004)

Image displays aquiferous system in Cliona sp. cross section
under light microscope (40x)​