One of the first coral reef fish I learned to identify was Thalassoma bifasciatum or the bluehead wrasse. While there can be a lot of (you guessed it) small, blue fishes on a coral reef, Thalassoma bifasciatum wins hearts and minds not only of underwater scientists but also of their 'clients' that can include turtles, sharks, rays, and other colourful reef fishes like groupers and surgeonfish. The services that Thalassoma bifasciatum provide are similar to a spa day, where they pick and remove dead skin and ectoparasites from the gills, fins and other body parts of their clients. And, of course, these services are available from a certain location on a coral reef: the cleaning station.
MERMAID's goal is 'data in, clean data out'. And now, you have a cleaning station for your coral reef data.
MERMAID's cleaning station is the new Observers and Transects feature. After you have submitted data, you can navigate to the Observers and Transects page on the right hand sidebar and view all of the submitted transects (or sample units) in your project. This cleaning station is particularly useful for helping you clean up your data. You can identify missing or duplicated transects, quickly scan for typos and errors (e.g., an incorrect survey date, see below), and identify which collectors have unsubmitted surveys.
See the short video below for our tips on how to use your new cleaning stations for your MERMAID data. We hope you have just as much fun as a blue-headed wrasses cleaning up pesky parasites from a turtle's shell.