Collection Data

Page Contents: Section | Significance | Background | Location & Dates | Taxonomic Contents | Documentation | Description of Collection | Collection Inventory | Collection Assets

Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, 2008

Section Responsible for Processing

MBC

Significance

Jody Martin (NHMLAC, Curator of Crustacea) and Leslie Harris (Collections Manager, Polychaetes) were invited by John Starmer, Marine Biologist, Coastal Resources Management, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to collect, photograph, and make provisional identifications of coral reef invertebrates found around Saipan. The goal is to acquire enough information to categorize the reef environment and the processes that control it. Small invertebrates are important components of the system but are poorly known. An additional product of this collection will be images used for outreach programs for school children, educators, and government officials in the CNMI. Specimens are deposited a tNHMLAC and enhance our holdings of Western Pacific decapods and polychaetes.

Background

John Starmer was principal investigator.

Collection Location and Dates

12-18 October 2008: collectors John Starmer, Coastal Resources Management Coral Reef Biologist; Jody Martin, Curator of Crustacea NHMLAC; and Leslie Harris, Collection Manager, Polychaetes NHMLAC. Collections are intertidal and subtidal invertebrates.

Taxonomic Contents

Predominantly crabs, shrimp, and polychaete worms were collected. Other organisms that occurred in the samples were retained as well.

Ascidiacea - 3 lots
Crustacea - 299 lots
Echinoderms - 4 lots
Echiura - 1 lot
Mollusca - 27 lots
Platyhelminthes - 1 lot
Polychaetes - 162 lots
Sipuncula - 1 lot
Fish - 1 lot

Documentation

Harris and Martin each have a field log of the samples they respectively processed. Logs are kept in their offices. All field information was transferred to electronic files by Harris. Marine Biodiversity Processing Center (MBPC) Database numbers 6424-6446 are the station records and can be downloaded from this site.

Description of Collection

All specimens are wet preserved. 95% of samples were sorted in the field to morphospecies. A few were left identified only to class or phylum. Polychaetes, other vermiform specimens, and non-alpheid caridean shrimp were fixed in 5-10% formalin, rinsed briefly in fresh water, and preserved in 70% ethanol. All other specimens were fixed directly in 95% ethanol, transferred to fresh 95% ethanol.

Specimens are currently in Polychaete/MBPC trailer for processing (24 Nov. 2008). Crabs are in Dr. Martin’s office.

Collection Inventory

499 lots. All have been sorted, labeled, curated, and moved to appropriate invertebrate sections.

Collection Assets

Date View or Retrieve File Information
12/09/2009 View [289.9 kB] LeslieHarris, photo by Jody Martin.
12/09/2009 View [282.0 kB] Lagoon, photo by Leslie Harris.
12/09/2009 View [443.6 kB] Tinian UW2, photo by John Starmer.
12/09/2009 View [463.2 kB] Tinian UW1, photo by John Starmer.
12/09/2009 View [502.9 kB] LauLau2,photo by John Starmer.
12/09/2009 View [695.8 kB] LauLau, photo by John Starmer.

Curatorial Status (Click to view)