Archaeocytes (Sponge Do-Anything Cells)

The crawling blob

Sponges are animals that live in water and stay in one spot. Between the sponge's outer covering and its water tunnels is a soft, jelly-like middle layer.

Crawling through that jelly are big, blobby cells called archaeocytes (say "AR-kee-oh-sites"). They are also called amoebocytes, because they move like an amoeba. They push out a bulge, then flow into it.

They move a bit like your white blood cells, which crawl through your body too.

A cell that can be anything

Archaeocytes do lots of jobs:

• They carry food to other cells and help digest it.
• They can turn into any other kind of sponge cell the sponge needs, like a skin cell or a collar cell.
• They help the sponge heal and regrow.

That makes them a lot like the stem cells in your body.

Archaeocyte quiz