A portable light-trap for collecting marine crustaceans

Abstract

A portable light-trap was designed and constructed to assist in Museum taxonomic studies on Crustacea. The trap was constructed throughout of transparent Perspex. The light-source was a chemoluminescent ampoule marketed under the name Cyalume® Lightstick. The present trap offers several advantages. It is inexpensive to construct, sturdy, readily portable, easy to operate, and safe to use. Field trials in Lough Hyne (Ine), Co. Cork, south west Ireland, have proved the apparatus to be most successful in attracting a wide variety of crustaceans.