Divers collect the sponges from rocks, with long rakes or hooks. These sponges are put into boats, carried to the shore, and there left until the jelly-like matter decays. Then they are washed, dried, sorted, and shipped to market. It is one of these markets at Key West that is here seen. You will observe that the sponges shown are round in shape. This is because their long ends have been trimmed off. Many of the finer varieties are bleached before marketing.

Sponges are found in many parts of the world in warm seas. But there are only a few places where sponge fishing is profitable. The best-known of these are along the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, and off the coast of Greece and Asia Minor and pats of Africa. In the Western Hemisphere the chief sponge fisheries are off the Florida coast and among the Bahama Islands.