Аннотация:To reproduce asexually and survive adverse conditions, freshwater sponges form gemmules. A young sponge develops from migrating cells leaving the gemmule. How can these individual cells form an organism with a distinct body plan? To address this question, we characterize early stages of sponge development in Ephydatia fluviatilis employing CLSM, SEM, TEM, and timelapse imaging. Cells begin to move inside the gemmule long before hatching and eventually comes to micropyle area. We characterized key stages of early sponge development, from micropyle opening to the formation of choanocyte chambers. With the onset of hatching, cells migrate out of the gemmule, forming several independent migration fronts. Then these fronts merge forming a single migration front surrounding the gemmule. The front edge spreads out in a stepwise manner. Near the gemmule, the front consists of two pinacoderm layers and a thick extracellular matrix between them, while the front edge consists of a single cell layer. We distinguished two populations of pinacocytes: cells at the front edge are elongated and have thick actin bundles, whereas hexagonal cells closer to the gemmule lack distinct stress fibres. Spreading of the front stops when it takes the circular shape. At this point, precursors of choanocytes and mesohyll cells migrate into the extracellular matrix forming a halo around the gemmule. Our detailed morphological analysis of the early stages of sponge development sets the groundwork for future investigations of the molecular mechanisms underlying coordinated cell behavior and the formation of the sponge body plan.