EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The choanocytes are provided with a flagellum, which is surrounded by a collar composed of cytoplasm. The main function of the flagellum apparently is to produce the water current, that of the collar is to capture food particles.

Detailed explanation-2: -Choanocytes: These are also known as collar cells. They are the flagellated cells, which work as a digestive system in sponges. The collars comprise microvilli, which are used to filter excess water out of the body.

Detailed explanation-3: -Choanocytes are also called as ‘collar cells’. These cells line the interior of the body of sponges. They are part of inner epithelium of sponges.

Detailed explanation-4: -The structure of a choanocyte is critical to its function, which is to generate a water current through the sponge and to trap and ingest food particles by phagocytosis. Note that there is a similarity in appearance between the sponge choanocyte and choanoflagellates (Protista).

Detailed explanation-5: -The beating of the flagella from all choanocytes draws water into the sponge through the numerous ostia, into the spaces lined by choanocytes, and eventually out through the osculum (or osculi, if the sponge consists of a colony of attached sponges).