264 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
Figure 1. Map showing collecting stations of the M/V DA-BFAR during the California Academy of Sciences Hearst 
Philippines Expedition, 28 May through 4 June 2011. 
resented were often not taken by other means: falling into this eategory were most notably the eels 
and the eatsharks. Traps offer the advantage over trawls in being usable over bottom topography 
that would otherwise preelude dragging a trawl. The fishes obtained by this method were also in 
exeellent shape: damaged speeimens are a frequent problem in trawl eatehes. 
Otter trawls (Figs. 3, 4).— When suceessfiilly fished, the otter trawls were highly produe- 
tive in terms of biomass and diversity of the eateh because of their wide swept area. However, they 
are susceptible to hang-ups and tears from rough bottoms, making them unsuitable over much of 
the area surveyed during the HEPD cruise. Because no opening-closing device was used on the 
trawl, a mixture of midwater and bottom organisms was often taken. 
Beam trawls. — The 4-m beam trawl employed during the cruise was notable in the length 
of its wooden beams, which exceeded those commonly used in oceanographic work. The wide 
swept-area of the beam trawl resulted in good catches with high diversity. The relatively tight cov¬ 
erage of the substratum and the fine-mesh liner often captured small epibenthic, subsurface, and 
burrowing organisms, especially invertebrates, that were not sampled by the otter trawl. The dura¬ 
bility of beam trawls in general also makes it much more feasible to deploy over rough bottoms, 
although on one occasion, the trawl hung up, a beam broke, and most of the gear was lost. 
Preservation of specimens. — After capture and a rough sort of the catch on deck, the fish 
specimens were brought into the vessel’s wet lab and further sorted and identified to the lowest 
level possible with the available literature on board. Representatives of each species were set aside. 
