Abstract
A HEAVY mortality broke out among the commercial species of sponge (Wool, Velvet, Grass, Reef, Yellow and Hardhead) on the natural banks in the waters of the Bahama Islands early in December 1938. The mortality was recorded earliest among the eastern islands of the Colony and spread rapidly westwards, until by the end of February 1939 there remained no sponge-bearing bank unaffected in the Colony. It is reported to have spread to the north coast of Cuba in February and Key West, Florida, in March. The mortality rate in most of the areas affected in the Bahamas ishigh (70–95 per cent).
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References
"Papers from the Tortugas Laboratory", 5, 7–45 (1914).
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GALTSOFF, P., BROWN, H., SMITH, C. et al. Sponge Mortality in the Bahamas. Nature 143, 807–808 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143807a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143807a0
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