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New identification guide provides a window to the invertebrates of the offshore deep-sea floor
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More than a decade ago, in 2007, a rare opportunity arose for two young marine biologists, Lara Atkinson and Kerry Sink, to participate in a trawl research survey aboard the Norwegian research vessel, R/V Dr Fridtjof Nansen, spanning the west coast of South Africa where 'invertebrates' were finally on the sailing orders.
Once all the fish had been picked up and sorted, Lara and Kerry were tasked to sort, identify (attempt!), count, weigh and record all the invertebrates landed in the trawl net.
The data were to be collected for a PhD student who was unable to participate in the survey. Kerry and Lara embraced this opportunity with dedication, believing that this could not possibly be that challenging. After all, how much invertebrate diversity could there be on the sandy plains at the bottom of the cold, Benguela ocean!
And so they set sail on the Dr Fridtjof Nansen, survey number Nan401, on 10 January 2007 for four weeks, not really knowing what they were in for, nor how these weeks would direct their research into the future and change their lives for the next 10 years.
As they progressed through the 101 trawls conducted during that first research survey, they eventually realised that deepsea invertebrates had received very little focus in these regions. Most of these strange, beautiful or slimy creatures were unknown to those onboard (or those back in the labs) and not captured in the ship database or regional field guides.
Lara and Kerry grouped the invertebrates by species and made up fantastical common names (Kerry is particularly good at this) like 'waffle whelk', 'legs-break-easily starfish', ‘two-prong Sunday crab' and 'agar animal'. They counted and weighed and recorded every detail of information they could find.
They took photographs of individual creatures from every possible angle and what came to be known as "the group shot" or "family photo" (a collage of representative invertebrate species from a trawl catch). These photos proved to be an invaluable source of information over time, helping to pave the way for classifying and mapping the marine ecosystem types of the country.
Once they had developed the at-sea survey protocol for monitoring trawl invertebrates and ensured its practical application was feasible during the early surveys, the task of kneeling amongst and sifting through the fish to extract the marine invertebrates was conducted by students, interns, researchers and anybody brave enough to agree to this. Countless photos were taken in the small confines of the ship’s ‘BioLab’ and specimens of interest were preserved for further research and accession in the marine invertebrate collection at the Iziko Museum of South Africa.
Growing database
The slow, painstaking work back on land in the laboratories, museums and offices entailed identifying the organisms, for which experts and specialists from the diverse group of 12 phyla were consulted, several from international institutions. With each survey and each trawl, valuable data were added to the growing database, revealing more surprises and new discoveries.
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The total count to date for new species distribution records (first time occurrence in the region) is 15, with four species being 'rediscovered' (not having been recorded in the region for more than 50 years). Currently, 21 species brand new to science have been discovered through this monitoring project and are being described in the taxonomic literature. Many new research projects have manifested from these specimens and data, with many partnerships and friendships forged.
South Africa's first offshore marine invertebrate field guide
Lara and Kerry have not yet again had the opportunity of spending time at sea together. However, the partnership and collaboration between them has grown stronger and now, through the institutional support of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and SAEON, together with many other partners and support teams, they have been empowered to publish South Africa's first offshore marine invertebrate field guide.
“There will undoubtedly be revisions and updated editions published in the future,” says Lara, “but collating the enormous amount of information for 409 invertebrate species into the pages of this field guide now provides the research community and industry with a first-step platform to consult when delving into the depths of deepsea research in South Africa.”
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“This work is also the foundation of our offshore ecosystem research,” explains Kerry, “which in turn is foundational to the assessment of the state of offshore ecosystems in South Africa.”
The guide is critical for in situ monitoring and for the broader national analyses which together enable SAEON, SANBI and others, to help track the state of the marine environment and its valuable biodiversity.
Official launch
The first ever Field Guide to the Offshore Marine Invertebrates of South Africa was launched at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town on 10 May 2018. Director of ceremonies, SAEON's Thomas Mtontsi, chaired the evening celebrations, with Lara and Kerry expressing their appreciation to their co-authors, colleagues and managers for their participation and support in the journey of producing the marine field guide.
Dr Molapo Qhobela, CEO of the National Research Foundation (NRF), commended the 'real partnership' forged between SANBI and SAEON, and all the other partners, in working together to produce this publication. Dr Qhobela emphasised that it is the power of such partnerships formed among government agencies that can deliver meaningful research and provide the knowledge that will be used to ensure that the country's principals look after our natural resources.
In agreement with Dr Qhobela, Ms Carmel Mbizvo, Head of Biodiversity Science and Policy Advice for SANBI, highlighted the importance of long-term monitoring that is needed to detect changes in the ecosystem and the value of sound foundational biodiversity and taxonomic knowledge to support this. She pointed out that a wide range of scientists, students, learners and education and business professionals will find value in the content of this photo-based publication. Much of the information contained therein has already been absorbed into the classification, description and mapping of South Africa's benthic ecosystems.
Juliet Hermes, manager of SAEON’s Egagasini Node, thanked Lara and Kerry for their dedication and perseverance in completing the field guide. Beate Hölscher, SAEON’s research administrator, read a poem she wrote for the event.
The ultimate winners in this story are the countless secretive and obscure deepsea marine invertebrates, who would mostly have remained anonymous, were it not for the ‘ignorant’ zest of two passionate marine biologists, who are giving these valuable organisms and their ecosystem 'homes' a rightful place in the scientific literature.
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Funding to publish the field guide was provided by the Department of Science and Technology (through the Global Change Programme) and the SANBI SeaKeys Project funded through the NRF Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme. Additional specimens and photographs were collected through the NRF African Coelacanth Ecosystem Project-funded Deep Secrets Project. The Fisheries Branch of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries provided in-kind support, enabling participation in their research surveys.
Editors: Lara Atkinson and Kerry Sink
Co-authors: Toufiek Samaai, Seshnee Maduray, Liesl Jansen, Robyn Payne, Megan Laird, Mark Gibbons, Natasha Karenyi, Charles Griffiths, Jannes Landschoff, Wayne Florence, Robin Leslie, Marek Lipinski, Dai Herbert, Georgina Jones, Chris Mah, Zoleka Filander, Jennifer Olbers, Ahmed Thandar, Shirley Parker-Nance and Norton Hiller.
Publishers: Malachite Marketing and Media
Printers: African Sun Media
