All things in moderation: using formalin to coerce leucothoid amphipods out of the rubble (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Leucothoidae)

摘要

Collection of small (<12 mm) inquilinous animal species living deep in coral rubble can be difficult. Elutriation or swirling of coral rubble samples is successful, yet leaves many animals undisturbed in crevices of the rubble. Adding a small amount of formalin to a rubble sample before elutriation greatly increases the yield of such animals, although formalin is often avoided when collections are to be used for molecular studies. Focusing on leucothoid amphipods, detailed collection methods are given for obtaining these cryptic amphipods from coral rubble habitats. Using formalin in moderation facilitates the collection of hard to capture nestling and inquilinous species. These collection methods leave the amphipods alive with their DNA undamaged for successful extraction and amplification.