I'm not familiar with Japanese collecting, but if you are doing inter
and sub-tidal shelling in northern climes, there are several general
principles to bear in mind, which will if followed, assist in generating
the maximum number of spp.

1)  The more habitats examined, the more spp will likely be discoverd.
This is axiomatic:  if you go traipsing down a sandy beach, you will
find a very limited # of living species.  But, if you tackle the a)
beach, b) a nearby salt marsh, c) a rocky area, d) some tidal pools and
e) a shallow, protected back-bay which is probably warmer than the
water  in the open ocean, then  you will assuredly find many more
species.

2)  The wider the variety of clast sizes a given site has, the more spp
you will likely find.  So, a place where there are rocks on a fine sand
beach with pockets of silt around, and some gravelly patches thrown into
the mix, will usually produce a wonderful diversity of species.    Also,
mixed clast sizes at any micro-site is an excellent recipie for
diversity.

3) Don'\t neglect the sub-tidal region: even shallow snorkling will
produce a lot of species that don't make it into the intertidal zone.

4) Bring a 1 or 2mm sieve ("20 mesh" will do nicely).  You can sift the
fine seds found around rocks, and anywhere else foor that matter (silty
sediments are especially productive!!), to find all kinds of little
treasures you would likely miss otherwise.

5) Look for pieces of wood which have washed up.  These may contain
boring molluscs (and sometimes even NOT so boring ones!!).

6) Thiis is important:  if at all possible, GET THERE EARLY!!  Follow
the tide down, and you will have the maximum amount of time available
for collecting at the more productive low tide and subtidal zones.  You
can also be there exactly when the tide turns - some species such as
Nassarius spp, will pop up or squirt just as the tide turns.

7) Use tidal charts to determine the lowest tides for your viisit - in
cold water climes, the intertidal collecting is often fairly poor, so it
is wise to get to that all important lowest tide and sub-tidal levels in
order to make the trip pay off decently.  Don't let the weather deter
you: you may only have a couple of really decent tides to work with and
you don't want to miss them!!

8) Keep careful which habitat you found each species in: tidal level,
clast sizes and mix, prescence of other organizims (for example, the
coralline algae zone is quite distinct and harbours chitons and those
that feed on them) and their relative abundance, etc.  The better your
notes are, the more scientific and just plain "curiosity" value your
specimens will have.

9) Be diligent: examine surfaces carefully, including living ones.  Look
everywhere you can!!

10) Put things back the way you found them as much and as carefully as
possible.  This is especially important for rocks, which have a
micro-community underneath them which can be destroyed completely if
exposed for any length of time.  A good strategy is to have one person
lift the rock up while the other collects underneath and on its
underside, then carefully lower it back down as exactly as possible, so
as to not squash too many beasties if different portions of the surface
are touching hard places under the stone.

Cheers from Sunny, warm New Scotland,
Ross.

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