26 



SEA-SHORE LIFE 



Fig l; LIVING CI)>rMERCIAL SI'ONGE 

 (Glove Sponge) 'J"he liahaiua Islands. 



fibres. The Heshy parts winch cover the skeleton are dark brown 

 or black, and as the living sponge is usually more or less covered 



with mud or silt it is far from 

 attractive in appearance, or 

 pleasant in odor. 



There are always a great 

 numher of little pores on the 

 sides of the sponge, and water 

 is drawn through these by 

 means of the constant lashing 

 of vast numbers of cilia which 

 are borne u]roii the cells lining 

 the passages. This water is 

 forced out through one or 

 more larger onenings at the 

 top of the sponge. In this 

 manner the sponge tissues 

 are aerated and the sponge 

 captures the minute organisms iijion which it feeds. Commercial 

 sponges do not grow at depths greater than :2(l() feet, and the vast 

 majority are obtained in 

 water less than thirty 

 feet deep, the best varie- 

 ties being found at the 

 greatest depth. 



The water is so won- 

 derfully clear in the re- 

 gions where they grow, 

 that the fishermen mere- 

 ly use a Ijucket having a 

 pane of glass in the bot- 

 tom through wliich they 

 look in scanning the bot- 

 tom for sponges. The 

 sponge is drawn iip bj' 

 a pair of hooks fastened 

 to the end of a wooden 

 pole. It is allowed to die, and is Ijuried in dry sand until it is 



Fig. 3; 'IHE HORNV SKELETON OF THE 



COMJlEHCIAL SI'ONGE (Glove Sponge) 



from the Bahama Islands. 



