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Spongia officinalis
Dark grey to blackish sponge, mainly spherical in shape and of varying size, up to 40cm in diameter. There are numbers of larger openings irregular in distribution, while the surface reminds me of skin with goose bumps.
A very common sponge of Adriatic, and a very common dweller of rocky bottoms close to shores. Here, observed regularly on popular beaches in a village of Dubrovnik riviera (Cavtat), sharing the space with other common sponges. The depth in this zone is between 0,5m up to 3m, and then descending sharply down to 10m. The sea bottom here is rocky, creating many crevasses and tunnels, and rocks are abundantly covered in algae. In those deeper waters, there are some large colonies of sea grass.
This sponge was used as bath sponge, and harvested for that purpose since Antiquity; but it is only in recent times that it became very popular worldwide which led to over-harvesting and the decline in populations. And it is true that, while I was a kid, I've never seen these being used commercially... today, every souvenir shop or stand in Dubrovnik and around sell these as souvenirs, "organic" bath products or something similar; and I'm starting to hear voices alerting about the problem of over-fishing them.
Spotted on Jul 27, 2022
Submitted on Aug 21, 2022
1 Comment
I think sponges are a very interesting group of animals-love them. I wonder if the ones that care about all things natural and organic give a thought to what this could do to plant and animal species and indeed the environment.
Those souvenir shop ones are small and scratchy - I wonder why they bother harvesting them. Trendy ! Looks good on the bath...
Nice to see them in situ here. Thanks.