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Tony was born in
North Ireland and
worked in tapestry
industry for several
years. After he
retired he began
sailing and moved
to New Zealand where
his wife and daughter
stay most of the
time when they are
not traveling with
Tony. Tony's boat
has everything he
needs to sail for
several weeks, including
a desalination system
to make fresh water.
He has GPS computerized
pilot, sonar, and
many gadgets to
sail in safety.
But the most important:
lots of shelling
gear, including
a dredge, a pump
to fill tanks, equipment
for taking and processing
pictures, internet
and much more. He
has several types
of dredges, from
heavy and coarse
mesh to fine and
light ones, all
can be pulled easily
using his winch
which has 1.5 km
of cable (thin but
very strong). Tony
collects everything
but is specialized
on Marginellas,
he is doing a very
deep study on this
family in a way
I don't know anyone
else is doing on
any other family.
He is taking pictures
of live animals,
radula and shells,
all information
is stored in a database.
He also prints plates
with new acquisitions
from his printer
and stores them
in folders. He sends
backup to his friend
Andrew Wakefield
who is helping him
on this extensive
work.
He uses several
methods to collect
Marginellas.
When he uses
the dredge he
filters the material
using four buckets
with different
sizes of mesh
on the bottom.
On the first
two larger ones
he select quickly
the material.
On the third
one he uses a
magnifying glasses.
And the thinner
one he leaves
on a bucket with
some water for
a few minutes
to collect later
the minute Marginellas
crawling on the
edges (1mm or
less!). Then,
while the shells
are alive he
takes them to
the microscope
and takes a picture,
making notes
on the speed
of the animal
and any other
peculiarities
as color, foot,
mantle, etc.
After the pictures
are done, he
extracts the
radula and takes
its picture.
Sometimes, he
needs to take
pictures of the
internal columella
folders, which
means he has
to break the
shells and lay
them in a way
he can photograph
it. Easy? We
are talking about
1 mm shells!
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