20/10/2023
Sponges are physically very distinct from other animals, and were long thought to have diverged first, representing the oldest animal phylum and forming a sister clade to all other animals.[123] Despite their morphological dissimilarity with all other animals, genetic evidence suggests sponges may be more closely related to other animals than the comb jellies are.[124][125] Sponges lack the complex organization found in most other animal phyla;[126] their cells are differentiated, but in most cases not organised into distinct tissues, unlike all other animals.[127] They typically feed by drawing in water through pores, filtering out food and nutrients
