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Cnidarians (Cnidaria)

Cnidarians - including corals, gorgonians and hydroids - are represented in a number of collections of potential use for ocean acidification research. They can be found in the:

  • Chagos Island coral, Discovery and HMS Challenger collections at the Natural History Museum
  • Dry Invertebrate Store at the Zoology Museum, University of Cambridge 

Hydroids can also be found in the Richie and Stephens Collection - one of the non-survey collections of National Museums Scotland.

Heliopora coerulea, blue coral
Chagos Islands coral collections

The Chagos archipelago lacks overfishing and pollution, making it potentially suitable for use as a global reference baseline for monitoring the impact of ocean acidification on local biota. Although this is predominantly a coral collection, some other taxa are included. Find out more.

 

Formalin-preserved specimens from the extensive Antarctic Discovery expedition collections
Discovery collections

The Discovery collections originate from a number of different expeditions that took place from 1901-1999. The collection of pteropods may be of particular importance for ocean acidification research, and there are a wide variety of other marine specimens as well as ocean bottom deposits and residues. Learn more.

 

Engraved view of HMS Challenger (1872-1876)
HMS Challenger collection

Scientists on the 1872-76 HMS Challenger expedition collected a vast amount of natural history material from around the globe, which is accompanied by extensive taxonomic and summary reports. Get information about the Challenger collections housed at the Natural History Museum.

 

An ostracod
Dry Invertebrate Store taxa

See a summary of what can be found in the Dry Invertebrate Store.

 

A brittle star (ophiuroid), Gorgoncephalus sp
Non-survey collections

Specimens from individual collectors are generally less suited to non-systematic investigations than those in the survey collections. However the Richie and Stephens Collection of hydroids, echiurids and sipunculids, and the Bruce Foraminifera Collection, are worthy of a special mention.

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