No Cooking This Lot!

Mr D. A. Smith, 99 Moana Road, Wainui, has quite a large collection of sea sponges which he has collected over the years, most of them coming from the beaches after storms. A very interesting fact to emerge from this is that in its living state the sponge colony is heavy and usually covered with a slimy coating, looking for all the world like a large piece of fat, with a disagreeable odour.

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Mr Smith with some of his cleaned and dried sponges which include the varieties long finger (chalina ramosa), organ pipe (chondropsis syringianus), globe (tethya fissurata), and large cup.