Porifera — NEET Biology MCQs with Solutions
Free NEET Biology Porifera MCQs with step-by-step solutions (87 questions). Part of Animal Kingdom. Practise online on Prepizo — no login needed.
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Questions with solutions
Q1 — Porifera · easy · theory
Poriferans (sponges) are characterised by a water-transport (canal) system and special flagellated cells called:
A. Choanocytes (collar cells) ✓ Correct
B. Cnidoblasts
C. Nephridia
D. Flame cells
Solution: Choanocytes line the spongocoel/canals and drive the water current used for food, gas exchange and waste removal.
Q2 — Porifera · easy · theory
Sponges are supported by a skeleton of:
A. Cartilage
B. Chitin
C. Bone
D. Spicules or spongin fibres ✓ Correct
Solution: The sponge body is supported by calcareous/siliceous spicules or a network of spongin fibres.
Q3 — Porifera · medium · theory
The level of organisation in sponges is:
A. Cellular level ✓ Correct
B. Tissue level
C. Organ-system level
D. Organ level
Solution: Sponges show a cellular level of organisation with division of labour among cells, but no true tissues.
Q4 — Porifera · medium · theory
Water enters a sponge through minute pores called ______ and leaves through the ______:
A. Nephridiopores; mouth
B. Osculum; ostia
C. Ostia; osculum ✓ Correct
D. Blastopore; anus
Solution: Water enters via ostia into the spongocoel and exits via the osculum — the canal system.
Q5 — Porifera · hard · theory
Sponges are hermaphrodites and reproduce sexually by forming ______, and asexually by ______:
A. Conidia; sporulation
B. Seeds; budding
C. Larvae after internal fertilisation; fragmentation/gemmules ✓ Correct
D. External spores; binary fission only
Solution: Most sponges are bisexual with internal fertilisation and a larval stage; they also reproduce asexually by fragmentation/gemmules.
Q6 — Porifera · hard · theory
Examples Sycon, Spongilla and Euspongia belong to Porifera. Which statement is CORRECT?
A. They are mostly marine, asymmetrical or radially symmetrical, and sessile ✓ Correct
B. They are bilaterally symmetrical and free-swimming
C. They have a true coelom
D. They possess a nervous system
Solution: Sponges are mostly marine, sessile, and asymmetrical/radially symmetrical, lacking true tissues, coelom and nervous system.
Q7 — Porifera · easy · numerical
The water-transport (canal) system of sponges is mainly responsible for:
A. Food gathering, respiratory exchange and removal of wastes ✓ Correct
B. Nervous coordination between distant cells
C. Sexual reproduction and gamete release only
D. Rapid locomotion over the substratum
Solution: The canal system circulates water through the sponge body, serving in food capture, gaseous exchange and excretion; sponges are sessile and have no nervous system.
Q8 — Porifera · easy · numerical
The skeletal spicules that support the body of sponges may be made up of:
A. Keratin plates
B. Cellulose fibres
C. Calcium carbonate or silica ✓ Correct
D. Chitin and calcium phosphate
Solution: Sponge spicules are composed of calcium carbonate or silica; in some (e.g. Euspongia) support is provided instead by a network of the protein spongin.
Q9 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Which set of features correctly describes sponges (Porifera)?
A. Mostly marine and asymmetrical or radially symmetrical ✓ Correct
B. Exclusively freshwater and bilaterally symmetrical
C. Marine and possessing a true coelom
D. Terrestrial and metamerically segmented
Solution: Sponges are mostly marine, very few freshwater, and are either asymmetrical or radially symmetrical; they are acoelomate and unsegmented.
Q10 — Porifera · medium · numerical
Assertion (A): Sponges show only a cellular level of organisation. Reason (R): Their cells act more or less as an independent aggregate and do not form true tissues. Choose the correct option.
A. Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A ✓ Correct
B. A is false but R is true
C. Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A
D. A is true but R is false
Solution: Sponge cells show division of labour but are not organised into tissues, so the organisation stays at the cellular level; both statements are true and R explains A.
Q11 — Porifera · medium · numerical
Match the sponge cell with its chief function — (i) Choanocyte, (ii) Amoebocyte, (iii) Pinacocyte:
A. i-food distribution, ii-outer covering, iii-current generation
B. i-current generation and feeding, ii-food distribution and spicule formation, iii-outer body covering ✓ Correct
C. i-outer body covering, ii-current generation, iii-spicule formation
D. i-spicule formation, ii-current generation, iii-food distribution
Solution: Flagellated choanocytes drive the water current and trap food, amoebocytes distribute food and secrete spicules/spongin, and flat pinacocytes form the outer covering.
Q12 — Porifera · medium · numerical
Which of the following statements about Porifera is correct?
A. They are dioecious with external fertilisation and direct development
B. They have a closed circulatory system for transport
C. They are hermaphrodites with internal fertilisation and indirect development through a free-swimming larva ✓ Correct
D. They possess a complete alimentary canal with mouth and anus
Solution: Sponges are hermaphrodite; fertilisation is internal and development is indirect via a larva morphologically distinct from the adult. They lack a gut and circulatory system.
Q13 — Porifera · medium · numerical
Which one of the following is INCORRECT regarding sponges?
A. They have a cellular grade of body organisation
B. They possess a well-developed nervous system for coordination ✓ Correct
C. They possess a water canal system with choanocytes
D. They can reproduce asexually by budding and regeneration
Solution: Sponges have no nervous system; coordination is at the cellular level only, so the statement about a well-developed nervous system is incorrect.
Q14 — Porifera · easy · numerical
An animal that is generally marine, mostly asymmetrical, multicellular but with only a cellular level of organisation, and possesses a water canal system with choanocytes belongs to which phylum?
A. Coelenterata (Cnidaria)
B. Ctenophora
C. Porifera ✓ Correct
D. Platyhelminthes
Solution: These are the defining features of Phylum Porifera (sponges) — marine, asymmetrical, cellular grade, canal system and choanocytes.
Q15 — Porifera · easy · numerical
The common name "sponges" refers to the members of which phylum?
A. Mollusca
B. Porifera ✓ Correct
C. Ctenophora
D. Cnidaria
Solution: Members of Phylum Porifera are commonly known as sponges.
Q16 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Euspongia, one of the poriferan examples in NCERT, is commonly known as the:
A. Freshwater sponge
B. Sea walnut
C. Sea anemone
D. Bath sponge ✓ Correct
Solution: Euspongia is the bath sponge; Spongilla is the freshwater sponge, while sea walnut and sea anemone are non-poriferan animals.
Q17 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Which of the following poriferan examples is a freshwater sponge?
A. Euspongia
B. Spongilla ✓ Correct
C. Sycon
D. Scypha
Solution: Spongilla is the freshwater sponge; Euspongia (bath sponge) and Sycon (Scypha) are marine forms.
Q18 — Porifera · easy · numerical
The sponge Sycon is also known by which other name?
A. Leucosolenia
B. Spongilla
C. Euspongia
D. Scypha ✓ Correct
Solution: Sycon is also called Scypha; Spongilla and Euspongia are different sponge genera.
Q19 — Porifera · easy · numerical
In a sponge, the water drawn in through the body wall collects in a central cavity called the:
A. Spongocoel ✓ Correct
B. Mantle cavity
C. Ostium
D. Osculum
Solution: Water enters through the ostia into the central cavity, the spongocoel, and finally leaves through the osculum.
Q20 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Water finally passes out of a sponge through a single large opening called the:
A. Radula
B. Ostia
C. Spongocoel
D. Osculum ✓ Correct
Solution: After passing through the spongocoel, water leaves the sponge through the osculum.
Q21 — Porifera · easy · numerical
The minute pores in the body wall through which water enters a sponge are called:
A. Spongocoel
B. Ostia ✓ Correct
C. Nephridia
D. Osculum
Solution: Water enters through minute pores called ostia — hence the phylum name Porifera (pore-bearing).
Q22 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Digestion in sponges (Porifera) is:
A. Intracellular ✓ Correct
B. Extracellular only
C. Both extracellular and intracellular
D. Absent, as they absorb food through the skin
Solution: In Porifera digestion is intracellular, taking place within individual cells.
Q23 — Porifera · easy · numerical
The soft, elastic skeleton of the bath sponge Euspongia is made up of:
A. A calcareous shell
B. Chitinous plates
C. Calcareous spicules only
D. Spongin fibres ✓ Correct
Solution: Sponges are supported by spicules or spongin fibres; the bath sponge has a skeleton of spongin fibres.
Q24 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Fertilisation in sponges (Porifera) is:
A. External in marine forms and internal in freshwater forms
B. Internal ✓ Correct
C. Absent, since only asexual reproduction occurs
D. External
Solution: In sponges fertilisation is internal and development is indirect.
Q25 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Development in sponges is described as indirect because it includes a:
A. Larval stage that is morphologically distinct from the adult ✓ Correct
B. Series of moults of a chitinous cuticle
C. Metagenesis alternating polyp and medusa
D. Direct hatching of a miniature adult
Solution: Sponge development is indirect, having a larval stage that differs in form from the adult.
Q26 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Sponges are generally found in which habitat?
A. Moist terrestrial soil
B. Freshwater ponds only
C. As endoparasites of vertebrates
D. Marine (sea water) ✓ Correct
Solution: Sponges are generally marine, though a few such as Spongilla are freshwater.
Q27 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Which one of the following is an example of Phylum Porifera?
A. Sycon ✓ Correct
B. Hydra
C. Aurelia
D. Taenia
Solution: Sycon (Scypha) is a sponge; Hydra and Aurelia are cnidarians and Taenia is a flatworm.
Q28 — Porifera · easy · numerical
The body symmetry shown by most sponges is:
A. Pentamerous radial
B. Bilateral
C. Asymmetrical ✓ Correct
D. Radial
Solution: Sponges are mostly asymmetrical — no plane passing through the centre divides them into two equal halves.
Q29 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Choanocytes, also called collar cells, are a characteristic cell type of which phylum?
A. Porifera ✓ Correct
B. Coelenterata
C. Echinodermata
D. Aschelminthes
Solution: Flagellated choanocytes or collar cells line the canals and spongocoel of sponges.
Q30 — Porifera · easy · numerical
Water vascular system is to Echinodermata as the water transport (canal) system is to:
A. Chordata
B. Porifera ✓ Correct
C. Annelida
D. Ctenophora
Solution: The canal (water transport) system is the characteristic water-conducting system of Porifera, analogous in name to the echinoderm water vascular system.