Page Contents: Section | Significance | Background | Location & Dates | Taxonomic Contents | Documentation | Description of Collection | Collection Inventory | Collection Assets
Friday Harbor, Nygren 2001
Section Responsible for Processing
MBC
Significance
This collection consists of polychaetes collected from hard substrates & algae in southern California and Friday Harbor, Washington. These habitats are rarely sampled even in such a well known area as the US west coast. Many species are undescribed. The purpose of the collection is to add to our knowledge of the region's polychaete fauna.
Background
Dr. Arne Nygren and Ms. Jenny Toth visited the museum in early 2001 to examine the Museum’s polychaete specimens and to collect fresh material for morphological and molecular analysis. Leslie Harris (Collections Manager, Polychaetes) accompanied Nygren and Toth making collections at the USC-Wrigley Laboratory on Catalina Island, San Diego, Los Angeles, Malibu, and Friday Harbor Laboratory, San Juan Island, Washington. Specimens collected by Harris were retained for the LACM. Material from these trips was incorporated into Nygren's Ph.D. thesis and resulted in the subsequent monographs:
Nygren, A. 2003. Autolytinae: molecules, morphology, and reproduction. Pd.D., Goteborg University, Sweden, 250 pp.
Nygren, A. 2004. Revision of Autolytinae (Syllidae: Polychaeta). Zootaxa 680: 1-314.
Collection Location and Dates
Collecting was done on pier pilings at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, platform reefs in La Jolla, Cabrillo National Monument, boat docks in San Diego Bay, rocks & pilings in Fisherman's Cove, Santa Catalina Island, floating docks in Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbors (localities in California), and in the San Juan Islands, Washington, primarily off the floating dock at Friday Harbor Laboratory. The majority of samples were intertidal and shallow subtidal; a few dredge samples down to 80 meters were taken in the San Juan Islands.
Taxonomic Contents
446 lots were brought back to LACM. Most lots consisted of polychaetes; 35 lots contained Crustacea, echinoderms, molluscs, and sponges.
Documentation
Field notes and electronic files are available from the Polychaete Section. All collection data are also available electronically from the MBPC database and this website.
Description of Collection
Most samples were initially fixed in 10% formalin, later rinsed in fresh water then transferred to 70% ethanol for long term storage. A few samples were put directly into 95% ethanol for DNA analysis. Polychaetes were mostly field identified to genus and species although some were left at the family level. The collection is in the process of being curated (11 March 2009). After processing worms will be shelved in the Polychaete Collection room while the other phyla will be dispersed to the appropriate LACM taxonomic section.
Collection Inventory
Field sorted material was brought back to the LACM in 446 individual small vials or jars.
Collection Assets
| Date | View or Retrieve | File Information |
|---|---|---|
| 11/29/2010 | Retrieve [128.5 kB] | Raw data file |