The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-24
FLORIDA SPONGE FIELDS
A Growing Industry on the Coast
of the Peninsula.
soe American Fisheries Rivaling
Those Along the Mediterranean
The Methods of Securing the
Valuable Article of Commerce.

A sponge is usually looked upon a
something necessarily Oriental Spong
fishing is thought of as trade piled by
the 1.-THE naked and brown Indians. I'm th'
Indian Ocean. or by equally interesting
natives off the shores of the Eastern
Mediterranean. The average mind sees 9
picture with cockle-shell boats, dancing
upon the water surface, and figures. fol
lowed by a train of bubbles, cleaving tin
blue depths of the waters and reaching
out for the coveted spongcs.
This picture is true, today, but there is
another picture which should be more
familiar to Americans. 1t is that of a
rough sailor-like figure, in a broad
brimmed dilapidated hat, tarpaulin. or
rough corduroy coat, and well-wCrn
trousers, seated in a dory-like row boat
peering over the side into the top of a
bucket that floats on the water. with his
hands managing a long pole that is
thrust into the water This is the picture
of the American sponge fisherman. who
works of the coast OF Florida, and if he
is not quite so interesting from an artistic
point of view as the man of the Indian
Ocean or the Mediterranean. he is at least
Enthusiastically American, and quite as
productive as his competitor across the
The sponge fishing OF the Florida coast
is carried on so quietly that the knowl-
edge of its existence does not extend
much beyond the people who were on the
little area over which 1t is carried on, and
the few mercantile houses which make a
specially OF dealing in sponges. Yet,
though the yield of the American field is
not sufficient to supply the American de-
mand, 1t supplies good portion of II, and
1t is much more than probable that the
article which was sold to you at The drug
store as the best imported sponge" with
which you washed your face this morn
ing. was rooted from its bed by an Amer
ican fisherman in the Florida fisheries
There are few kinds of sponges that our
fields do not produce. and in almost every
trade you will find them.
The fisheries are old, perhaps as old as
any commercial trade in thecountry En-
Eaged in it are hoary-headed men. who
have taken their boats and equipment
from other hoary-headed men. who had
theirs in turn from others similarly old.
In the sponge fishing business has grown
up a sort Of close community, like that
at Cape Cod. with manners, traditions
and customs all its own. and as interest
ing characters can be found on the shores |
of the fishing fields as can be found in |
any part of the United States
SPONGE FISHING FIELDS.
The sponge fishing fields are three in |
number, one off the southern coast of |
Florida, near Key West. another north |
Of Tampa. near Tarpon Springs. and a |
third near Alphabetical. OF the three
the Key West grounds are by far the |
most productive, the Tarpon Springs
grounds having the next largest yield,
Apalachicola coming third, with a crop
that can almost be disregarded. The -eX-
act area of the fields is not known, but
about 800 square miles have been fished
over for years The ground is all covered
with what might be called shallow water
nowhere reaching a depth of over fifty
two feet, as that is the limit at which
from boats, the fishermen have found it
possible, or profitable, to work. 1t is
with the intention of finding out whether
there are good sponges to be found at a
lower depth, or If there are other sponge
fields that can be fished that the United
States Fish Commission has sent the
Fish Hawk into the district, under James
Smith. mate of the United States
Navy, to make an investigation. The
work was begun last December. and is
still going on, partial reports being sent
10 the Commission, with specimens for
investigation every few months.
a monograph upon the nature Of | I
sponges has been written by Hugh NJ |
smith, assistant in charge of inquiry re-
;pecting food fishes. in the United States | ,
Fish Commission, in which he gives sue ,
,intly many facts in regard to the nature {
IF sponges- Speaking on this subject he ,
says: ,
although for many years the status
IF sponges-whether animal or vegeta- ,
1le-was in dispute. the time has long I
iince passed when the right of the | I
Iponges to be placed in the animal king | l
iom was established. Even the proprie- :
y Of assigning the sponges to a position \
higher than the lowest animals-the pro-
ozoa-is now conceded, and they are /
,ut either in g. sub-kingdom of their own :
erataD with the corals, gorgonians, sea- 2
Gathers, 1elly-hshes, etc. :
The sponge in natural state is a very | 7
iifterent-looking object from what we Il
Zee In commerce. The entire surface is | :
covered with a thin, Shiny skin, usually n
4 a dark color, perforated to correspond =
With the apertures of the canals. The | I
PONCE of commerce is in reality only !
My the home or the skeleton of a .
PONCE. The composition of this skele- {
on varies in the different kinds of | I
ponges. but in the commercial grades IT
onsists of interviewer horny fibres, | fl
mong and supporting which are spiculae a
numbers and having variety of forms. | y
he fibres consist OF a network OF fibris | q
whose softness and elasticity determine v
be commercial quality of "a given sponge. n
he horny framework is perforated ex- I
ernally by very many minute pores and u
y less number of larger openings. !.
'hese are parts Of an interesting double n
anal system, an external and an inter- | "a
al, or a centrtDetal and a centrifugal. .
AT the smaller openings on the sponge | ri
urface, channels begin which lead into ii
Hated spaces (sacs or ampullaeJ; in | 81
hose, in turn, channels arise which | a.
terminate In the large open e.
lgs (craters or oscula). Through these 81
hannels or canals definite currents are -
maintained which are essen II
al to the existence of the sponge. The -
irrents enter through the small apertures \,
nd emerge through the large ones ~
The active part of the sponge-that is | =,
ne part concerned in nutrition and -
rowth-is a soft. feshy mass partly MI -
~ the meshes and lining the canals 1t -
insists largely OF cells having different a.
inctions-some concerned in the forma- ~
on OF the framework, some in digestion | f.
,me In reproduction. Lining the dilated
PAGES into which the afferent canals | -,
,ad are cells surmounted by whip-Iike H.
rocesses tciliaD; the motion Of these | .,
produces and maintains the wa a.
r currents. which carry the minute | ~
'od products to the digestive cells in the M
sme cavities. IN
sponges multiply by the union of sexual ~
roducts, certain cells OF the neshy eII
mp assuming the character of oya and -
hers that OF spermatozoa Fertilization p
,kes place within the sponge. The fer =. -.
lized eggs, which should now be called a se
rvae, pass out with the currents 81 | ~
alter; and, being provided with cha sil
vim actively for a while. like larvai W
'stcrs. In comparatively short time VI
,oDaDiy IN twenty-four TO forty-eight W. W.
ours, they settle and become attached | W
some suitable surface, where they in III
me develop into mature sponges" -
CHARACTER OF THE SPONGE FLEET
The fishermen of Florida. however have
ard nothing Of these new ideas promul-