Sponge

spunj, a marine animal found attached to rocks at the bottom of warm seas. Simple fresh water sponges may be found on logs and stones in our lakes and rivers. They are mistaken easily for green or brown mosses. They have no particular value. Another family of sponges, represented in the Philippines, appears to be made of spun glass. One of the most beautiful is the Venus' flower basket. Commercial sponges have a silky skeleton of fine fibres apparently felted together. In addition to the porous nature of the skeleton, regular channels may be seen along which the living animal drives a current of water by means of innumerable hairs or cilia. The sponge feeds on microscopic animals and plants arrested as the current passes. No animal is known to eat a sponge, though many find homes in its shelter.

The most valuable sponge fisheries are in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the coast waters of Florida and the Bahamas. Sponges are taken by rakes dragged from a boat, or by divers. They resemble pieces of beef liver at first. One can squeeze out the soft parts easily in the hand, but sponges are piled up usually until the soft tissues decay. They are then pressed, washed, dried, sorted, trimmed, possibly bleached, and sent to market. The softer, finer, more durable and elastic a sponge, the greater its value. A fine sponge the size of a plum may be worth several times as much as a large, coarse one the size of a muskmelon.

The island of Aegina is the center of the Mediterranean sponge fisheries. A collecting outfit consists of a small sloop for several men. First of all, there is the captain. Three divers in armor take turns in descending. Two men in charge of hose and an air-pump drive air to the diver. A third man holds the life cord by means of which the diver gives signals. The diver fills his lungs repeatedly, closes his armor, seizes a twenty-five pound slab of marble to give himself increased weight, and plunges boldly down to a depth of anywhere from fifteen to forty fathoms. He works hastily, tearing the sponges from the rock and cramming them into a bag carried in front of him like a workman's apron. He is able to remain at the bottom about two minutes. He then gives a signal and is drawn to the surface. The Greek sponge fisher does not like to work for wages. He prefers to be paid according to his catch. London merchants purchase most of the sponges from the Mediterrean and Red Sea fisheries. The city is the world's headquarters for sponges.

The Bahama sponge fisheries are of importance. The headquarters of the Bahama fisheries are on New Providence Island. These fisheries are also under British management. It is estimated that 500 vessels and 3,000 men find employment, and that $150,000 a year is paid out in wages. The waters are so clear that the sponges may be seen on the bottom at a depth of sixty feet. They are scraped up with rakes.

Key West and Tampa Bay, Florida are centers of the American sponge fisheries. The fishers are mainly negroes. They go out in a sloop and pair off, two and two in rowboats. One man kneels in the stern with a water glass. When he sees a sponge on the bottom, he signals to the rower to stop. He pulls off the sponge with a three-pronged hook at the end of a slender pole from twenty to fifty feet in length. Incredible numbers of sponges are brought ashore. They form piles like haystacks in a meadow. Florida sponges of the best quality sell as high as five dollars a pound. Of late the American waters have been invaded by Greek sponge fishers from Aegina. The sponge crop of Florida for 1907 was valued at $1,500,000.

See Key West; Pearls