Epibenthic sled

An epibenthic sled (or epibenthos sled/sledge) is an instrument designed to collect benthic and benthopelagic faunas from the deep sea.

The device has a mechanically operated door that is closed when the sled is mid water and opens when it reaches the seafloor.

[4] However, this allows the sled to get a pretty good cross section of what animals burrow because most live near the sediment water interface.

[2] The introduction of the epibenthic sled has led to a better understanding of the diversity of meiofauna to macrofauna in the deep sea and of the phylogeny and systematics of some major invertebrate groups.

In addition, if samples are repeatedly taken from the same area temporal information can be gathered that may be important in understanding phenomena such as reproductive patterns in the deep sea.

The expedition produced evidence that there was life in the deep sea but it was thought that the diversity was very low compared to shallower waters.

Hessler and Sanders were successful in obtaining a more accurate count of diversity of the deep sea floor because previous attempts, such as those from the Challenger, did not take into account the winnowing effect.

It is difficult to know how much area the sled covered and therefore hard to figure out how densely packed the organisms are on the sea floor.