On a recent collecting excursion in Palau, I repeated the mantra “Think Like a Brittle Star” over and over as my colleague Jim Haw and I searched for a specimen ( Ophiotylos leucus ) that was last seen 76 years ago by Japanese scientists (cf. Murakami 1943). With the help of Pat and Lori Colin from the Coral Reef Research Foundation based in Koror, we poured over Japanese-era maps and aerial photographs trying to identify at least a general location in the intertidal zone from where we could start our search for these animals.

Aerial view of SW Nikko Bay, Palau (Koror State). Image courtesy of the Coral Reef Research Foundation.