Gold has been determined in six marine sponges by neutron activation analysis. The amounts found (1·8–12·6 × 10−8 g/g dry sponge) are higher than would be expected from measurements of the distribution of 198Au between sea-water and dead sponge samples.

Many attempts have been made to devise methods for concentrating gold from sea water, but none of them are commercially viable. Recent work has shown that gold can be concentrated by adsorption or absorption on certain artificial polymers (Hummel, 1957; Bowen, unpublished). This note describes some measurements of the accumulation of gold by marine sponges whose scleroprotein structure resembles some of the artificial polymers employed.