ROSS: 2011 PHILIPPINE BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
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to our beds. Throughout the night we kept waking up and tending to these animals — a strange, 
wonderful and exhausting time. 
In the end, we were successful keeping the ghost pipefish alive, and getting them home to the 
aquarium in Golden Gate Park. Sometime in the night we noticed that the pygmy seahorses were 
no longer living, and we preserved them. The coral spawn failed to thrive, and it seems that we 
were simply too unprepared and understaffed to have succeeded in that labor intensive realm. We 
learned a lot and helped move science foiward. Of course, we plan that for next year’s trip, we will 
be much more prepared for new surprises and opportunities. 
In the next installment — coral collecting, octopus wrangling, shipping & packing for the trip 
home, and 300-500 new species discovered. 
Special thanks to Bart Shepherd, Matt Wandell and Elizabeth Palomeque 
2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition 
Part 2: Collecting, Getting Stuff Home and New Discoveries^ 
Researchers from the California Academy of Sciences have been visiting the Verde Island Pas¬ 
sage area off the coast of Batangas Province on Luzon Island, Philippines for almost 20 years. 
Research by scientists during this period has suggested that this area may be the “center of the cen¬ 
ter” of mai'ine biodiversity, and perhaps home to more documented species than any other marine 
habitat on Earth; there can be more species of soft corals at just one dive site than in all of the 
Caribbean. 
Funded by a generous gift from Margaret and Will Hearst, the 2011 expedition was not only 
the most comprehensive scientific survey effort ever conducted in the Philippines, but also the 
largest expedition in the history of the California Academy of Sciences. Over eighty scientists from 
the Academy, the University of the Pliilippines, De La Salle University, the National Museum of 
the Philippines, and the Philippines Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources came with a mis¬ 
sion to survey and document various aspects of the various ecosystems in the area. 
A fui'ther team of Academy educators attended with a mission to share the expedition’s find¬ 
ings with local community and conservation groups as the Expedition was happening. As part of 
the expedition’s shallow water team based at the renowned Club Ocellaris, Bart Shepherd, Matt 
Wandell and I focused upon the underwater sites that served as the inspiration for the Steinhart 
Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences 212,000 gallon Philippine Coral Reef exhibit. 
In part one of this series, we covered getting the the Philippines, the realities of being on an 
expedition and our lucky observation of hard coral spawning. In part two we’ll look at how we col¬ 
lected octopus and corals, how we shipped those animals back home, and more. 
8 Armed Coconuts^ 
In stark contrast to the beautiful obstreperous coral reefs of the Philippines, muck diving is like 
being on the moon. You float over seemingly endless plains of desolate grey substrate. But unlike 
the lunar landscape, the muck habitat is foil of life; in the ‘center of the center of marine biodiver¬ 
sity’ the silty muck is packed with animals of all shapes and sizes. Commensal shrimp use tube 
anemonie tentacles for protection. Flatfish, perfectly camouflaged in plain sight, become visible 
only when spurred into motion by your passing. Feather Stars move their arms in slow motion, 
^http://vimeo.com/36865036. This video from the 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition give you a good idea why 
the Verde Island Passage has been called ‘the center of the center of marine biodiversity’. 
4http://vimeo.com/24176960. The Octopus in this video refuses to eat a crab that we generously caught for it. 
