THE AMPHIPOD FAMILY 



PHOXOCEPHALIDAE IN THE EASTERN 



PACIFIC OCEAN, WITH ANALYSES OF 



OTHER SPECIES AND NOTES FOR 



A REVISION OF THE FAMILY 



By 

 J. LAURENS BARNARD 



INTRODUCTION 



Since 1931 the motor cruisers Velero III and Velero IV have 

 been dredging on marine soft bottoms from California to Peru. In 

 this vast, rich and practically virgin zoological area, the overwhelming 

 abundance and variety of large animals that came on board ship left 

 little time for collections of smaller animals in the size class one to 

 ten millimeters. Nevertheless, thousands of lots of these materials 

 were returned to the laboratory and sorted. As the explorations con- 

 tinued, collecting techniques were improved continually so that small 

 animals now constitute the greater number of specimens accessioned. 



In 1952, under the direction of Dr. Olga Hartman, a quantitative 

 survey of San Pedro Basin, including coastal shelves and slopes, was 

 commenced (Hartman 1955). This was extended to Santa Monica 

 Basin and environs in 1955 (Hartman 1956) and to the coastal shelf 

 between Point Conception and the Mexican Border in 1956 (Hartman 

 and Barnard 1957). 



Prior to 1952 the Velero III and Velero IV sampled the benthos 

 with several types of dredges and drags, none of which provided a 

 quantitative sample. Since that time the Hayward orange-peel-bucket 

 (Hartman 1955) has been the main sampler used. The bucket collects 

 a large quantitative benthic sample in a manner similar to the 

 Petersen grab. The samples are washed through a fine screen (24 

 meshes/inch, see Reish 1958 for discussion) and shaker device; all 

 residual materials are preserved and sorted completely in the laboratory. 

 These techniques have resulted in a vast amount of small crustacean 

 material, most of which represents new species and new records. 



It was discovered that the most abundant group of crustaceans, 

 apart from the ostracods, was the Phoxocephalidae, a family of 

 amphipods poorly known in the eastern Pacific Ocean. A study of 

 these was started in 1951 which indicated the need for the examination 



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