From trawl to cheer
Each time a drag net is hauled up on the trawl deck of the Aurora Australis, the entire shift is ready to spring into action, outfitted in orange combat suits! First comes an initial sorting to get out quickly the most fragile and the most accessible organisms. This first operation is followed by a sifting session, using water to sieve what remains. The purpose of this sieving is to separate organisms from the sediment in which they are stuck and also to classify them by size. Next, in the wet lab, the organisms in each size class are separated by the phylum to which they belong, and then they are conserved to be kept for repatriation at the Museum.