Sample Collection

	Sediment samples were collected from a fishing trawler equipped with a motorized winch. (Fig 1)
At each station, a 0.05 m2 van Veen grab (Fig 2) was lowered to the sea bottom from the fishing boat. Sediment samples collected were sieved through a stack of 1 and 0.5 mm mesh boxes. Sediment remains on the 0.5 mm mesh box were fixed with 5% formalin on board the vessel.

  In the laboratory, sediment samples were sorted under a dissecting microscope and polychaete specimens were later identified to family level. A total of 14 families of errant polychaetes were found. Specimens were preserved in 70% alcohol for later record/process. This included photographing and recording of key morphological characters of the different families of polychaetes. Also, slides were used to record the features of parapodia and setae of different families by using a compound microscope.

Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank Dr Paul Shin for helping me to identify the errant polychaetes and provide me with reference information on marine polychaetes in Hong Kong.