Sponges
Original title: Esponjas
About 70 sponge species have been recorded in Madeiran waters, including Melia Normani, discovered off Porto Santo by Adolfo de Noronha.
About 70 species of sponges have been collected in the seas of Madeira, many of them siliceous or calcareous. Among the latter is Melia Normani, discovered by Mr Adolfo César de Noronha in the waters off Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) and described by Mr Randolph Kirkpatrick, a naturalist at the British Museum. The largest species found so far in the seas of the archipelago measures about 60 centimetres, is somewhat bowl-shaped and consists of tightly interwoven glassy threads. When fishermen’s lines reach great depths, they sometimes bring up sponges of the same kind as the one just described, caught on the hooks. At Ponta de São Lourenço (‘St Lawrence Point’) we have seen small fibrous sponges floating near the coast, which certainly came from the nearby depths.
Issue no. 1289 of the Heraldo da Madeira (‘Madeira Herald’) contains some curious information about Melia Normani, the Porto Santo sponge.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 02
- Ponta de São Lourenço
Machico. Where small fibrous sponges were seen floating near the coast.
The Ponta de São Lourenço is the long, narrow eastern headland of Madeira in the parish of Caniçal, said to be named after the caravel São Lourenço, with a lighthouse on its islet. The Elucidário describes its geology, seasonal vegetation, islets, fossil calcareous bodies at Piedade, land snails and use as pasture. The steamer Forerunner sank there in 1884, and a submarine bank lies between it and the Desertas.
- Porto Santo
Waters where Melia Normani was found.
An island of the archipelago, settled alongside Madeira and forming one of the three captaincies. It has always constituted a single parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade, whose church was repeatedly sacked. The Elucidário records the Moorish pirate raid of 1617, its own Misericórdia and a rainwater channel built on this drought-prone island.
People
People mentioned · 02-
Madeiran naturalist who discovered the sponge Melia Normani off Porto Santo.
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British Museum naturalist who described Melia Normani.