I have no data on the differences, but a lot of experience in night
collecting of marine mollusca.

At first view,  one finds about x 50 times as much as in daytime
during a nightdive or a walk on mudflats in the night, at least in
tropical seas.

We hardly collect any large molluscs with Guphil - one can buy them
cheaper than the cost of searching, cleaning etc.. - but we
photograph a lot. Some families you will ONLY find at night (unless
your dig up their hiding places)- such as Cypraeidae.

Best,
Guido







On 11 Oct 2005, at 06:23, Alex Menez wrote:

> We all know that most land molluscs are nocturnal, but that
> malacologists
> are diurnal! (at least in collecting habits). I am developing this
> a little
> for a short section on aspects of sampling for my PhD. Sampling in
> the night
> or day can result in different estimates of density, or even in the
> missing
> of species altogether.
>
> I have three questions people might be interested in trying to answer:
>
> (1) does anyone have any data on this?
> (2) does anyone have experience of night collecting and how this
> differs to
> daytime collecting?
> (3) somewhere, sometime, I read that Arthur Cain (I think) said
> that snails
> are nocturnal, and malacologists diurnal (or words to that effect).
> I have
> this somewhere in my literature collection but can't locate it. I
> think it
> may even have been another author quoting Cain. It would be nice to
> pin this
> down, and use as a quote. Come on, somebody must have come across a
> mention
> to this (and have it at their fingertips!). Please let me know.
>
> Regards
>
> Alex
>
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