Dendroceratida

Dendroceratida
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Porifera
Class:	Demospongiae
Subclass:	Ceractinomorpha
Order:	Dendroceratida Minchin, 1900
Families
Darwinellidae Merejkowsky, 1879 Dictyodendrillidae Bergquist, 1980

In taxonomy, the Dendroceratida are an order of sponges of the class Demospongiae.^[1] They are typically found in shallow coastal and tidal areas of most coasts around the world. They are generally characterized by concentric layers of fibers containing spongin (a collagen-like material), and by large flagellated chambers that open directly into the exhalant canals. Along with the Dictyoceratida, it is one of the two orders of demosponges that make up the keratose or "horny" sponges, in which a mineral skeleton is minimal or absent and a skeleton of organic spongin-containing fibers is present instead.^[2]

References

1. Hooper, JNA; van Soest RWM (2002). "Ordo Dendroceratida Minchin, 1900". Systema Porifera: A Guide to the Classification of Sponges. Volume 1. Introductions and Demospongiae. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. ISBN 0-306-47260-0.
2. Erpenbeck, D; Sutcliffe, P; Cook Sde, C; Dietzel, A; Maldonado, M; van Soest, RW; Hooper, JN; Wörheide, G (June 2012). "Horny sponges and their affairs: on the phylogenetic relationships of keratose sponges.". Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution 63 (3): 809–16. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.02.024. PMID 22406528.