Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1896 — ABOUT SPONGES. [ARTICLE]

ABOUT SPONGES.

Facts Relating to Color, Size and Shape and How They Grow* The color, size and shape of the sponges are as varied as their distribution; violets, , reds, greens are frequent colors, due, perhaps, in some cases to mimicry, or protective resemblance. In shape and size, says Good Words, some are flattened, globular mosses of small size, others are great tree-like growths, several feet round; others wide, deep cups, and others little lacework tubes of the finest spun glass. Some are tough and horny, and live in shallow, and, therefore, rough water, and need a strong skeletal framework; others are delicate and brittle, and only flourish in the quiet depths of the sea. The horny sponge, as the sponges of commerce are called, from their tough, horny skeleton, which we know so well flourish in the greatest abundance in water from 30 to 40 fathoms in depth. The delicate silicious sponges, however, which would be utterly smashed to pieces in this rough water, are only found far below this. Along the coasts of Portugal and Brazil beautiful specimens were found by the Challenger, flourishing in great abundance at the depth of 1,00 fathoms, and from that down to 2,000 fathoms, or between two and three miles beneath the sea level, they were found lying upon or embedded in the soft mud which covers the bottom of the sea. The greatest number of sponges, however, grow in water from 500 to 1,000 fathoms in depth.