3 purposes of choanocytes

1. Create water current through sponge • bring in food • bring in oxygen • expel waste products (CO2, NH3) • disperse gametes 2. Food capture (and phagocytosis) •food brought to mesohle 3. Sperm capture: within a sponge sperm packets are endocytosed, and sperm is endocytosed (released) to the mesohyle (the gelatinous matrix within a sponge) where fertilization takes place can differentiate btwn food & sperm when both brought to mesohyle