Question

The nutrition in sponges is
a. Holozoic
b. Holophytic
c. Saprozoic
d. Mixotrophic

Answer 1

Hint: Sponges belong to the phylum Porifera, this is a multicellular organism, where the body is porous and contains the channels for the circulation of water through it, and it contains the mesohyl which is a jelly-like substance present or sandwiched between two layers of cells.

Complete answer:
Sponges have a unique feeding system where their body, instead of having a mouth, they have tiny pores called Ostia, through which water is drawn, whereas cells in the sponge walls filter the food present in the water, as the water is pumped out of the body through the osculum.

So when going to the given options
> Holozoic: This means that it is the process of taking or ingesting the solid food particles and processing them inside the body that is intracellular, and this type is called holozoic, an example is Sponges.

> Halophytic: The nutrition which is autotrophic, means the organisms prepare their own food by using the inorganic materials and by utilizing the sunlight, and this type seems in plants.

> Saprozoic: This type of nutrition is mainly seen in cells like protozoa and some other microorganisms, where they obtain the nutrition from both organic and inorganic decaying matters, and they can be called as decomposers or scavengers.

> Mixotrophic: This is a type of showing both autotrophic and heterotrophic types of nutrition and one of the best examples for this is euglena, where it is autotroph in the presence of sunlight, and it is heterotroph in the absence of light.

Hence, the correct answer is option (A).

Note: Sponges lack the mouth and the digestive system, so mainly intake the food by water, where the solid particles are absorbed and filtered and digested In the food vacuoles, so this is called a holozoic type of nutrition.