COMPARISON TO OTHER PHYLA

Sponges themselves are really distinctive creatures and share few similarities with organisms in other phyla. They are the only invertebrates to be asymmetrical and along with cnidarians they are only classified on the tissue level of organization. In fact, although cnidarians are dissimilar in appearance, they share many characteristics with porifera. Both are sessile at one point in their life cycles, which also is diplontic. Porifera are one of the oldest animal ancestors, which also leads us to believe that they evolved much earlier than other invertebrates. These animals truly are remarkable and have evidently managed to distinguish themselves immensely form other invertebrates regarding characteristics, adaptations, as well as behaviour.