Crab Shack Help

These square(ish) barcode labels were added specifically for this project. They have the specimen/lot registration number that we are using to index the images. Therefore, these numbers are already pre-entered into the system.

You can ignore these “LACM MBC” barcode labels.

The Sta. No. (station number) field is one of the most ambiguous to fill in. It is a special number given to an expedition collection site (by which we may be able to look up collection information).

With luck, the station number will be in a field marked “Sta. No.”. On this example set, that field is blank on the “Allan Hancock Foundation” label (not unusual).

A small label with 4 to 6 digits (and possibly a letter or two) is most likely the station number. That is the case in this set of labels: the label with “1629-48” is the station number, and it’s also on the printed Marine Biodiversity Center label as “Sta.”).

In the absence of any specifically-noted “Sta. No.” (or similar), assume that any small label with a few digits or letters is the station number, and enter it into the Sta. No. field.

In a few cases, collectors have used the label field marked “Sta. No.” to record some other information (examples are “shore“ or “Searcher“). Such entries are clearly not station numbers. Enter those into the data field you feel is most appropriate (“shore” is a Site Description; and “Searcher” was the name of a research vessel, so would just go into the Other Text field).

This style of printed label is distinguished by the Marine Biodiversity Center number on the bottom line. Everything else on this style of printed label is likely to be duplicated elsewhere on labels in the jar, so should be consided of secondary (or duplicate) importance.

The main exception is the Marine Biodiversity Center number itself, which should be entered into the data field of that name.

If this was the only species identification among all the labels, you would enter this in the Scientific Name field. However, because there is a scientific name other labels, and because the scientific name is accompanied with an Identifier Name on the other labels, you can simply ignore this extra scientific name.

Normally, you would enter label titles into the Other Text data field. However, because they are so common in this collection, do not enter the two titles “Allan Hancock Foundation” or “The University of Southern California”.