Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The sponges as a prime division of cœlenterates, or superclass of Cœlentera, having a system of pores or incurrent and excurrent openings, but no stinging-organs: contrasted with Nematophora, and more fully called Cœlentera porifera.
  • noun Same as Foraminifera.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural (Zoöl.) A grand division of the Invertebrata, including the sponges; -- called also Spongiæ, Spongida, and Spongiozoa. The principal divisions are Calcispongiæ, Keratosa or Fibrospongiæ, and Silicea.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun coextensive with the subkingdom Parazoa: sponges

Etymologies

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Examples

  • What startled the scientists the most was the discovery of the Ctenopelta porifera species.

    Anuradha K. Herath: Life after Catastrophe 2010

  • What startled the scientists the most was the discovery of the Ctenopelta porifera species.

    Anuradha K. Herath: Life after Catastrophe 2010

  • Although they are often acknowledged to be aggregations of somewhat independent cells which (as shown by Ruthmann and Terwelp, 1979) have been found capable of rearranging themselves if disassociated, the porifera (sponges) are in their aggregations routinely treated as singular organisms, based, evidently, on their coherence as singular things.

    Individuals, societies, and the classification of organisms 2007

  • Consider the ctenophores, the comb jellies for example, a much more complex organization than the porifera, being comprised of a number of highly specialized and interdependent cell-types.

    Individuals, societies, and the classification of organisms 2007

  • One such "pioneer species," Ctenopelta porifera, appears to have traveled over 300 kilometers to settle at the site on the underwater mountain range known as the East Pacific Rise.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • "These results show clearly that the species arriving after the eruption are different than those before," says Mullineaux, "with two new pioneer species, Ctenopelta porifera and Lepetodrilus tevnianus, prominent."

    Science Blog BJS 2010

  • One such "pioneer species," Ctenopelta porifera, appears to have traveled over 300 kilometers to settle at the site on the underwater mountain range known as the East Pacific Rise.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • One such "pioneer species," Ctenopelta porifera, appears to have traveled more than 300 kilometers to settle at the site on the underwater mountain range known as the East Pacific Rise.

    Science Blog BJS 2010

  • Ctenopelta porifera, a species of sea snail that has become prominent in the area.

    Livescience.com 2010

  • One such "pioneer species," Ctenopelta porifera, appears to have traveled over 300 kilometers to settle at the site on the underwater mountain range known as the East Pacific Rise.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories PhysOrg Team 2010

Comments

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  • Ah yes, and my kitchen sponge walked out on me. She said she had taken all she could.

    June 27, 2007

  • soak it up

    September 10, 2010