This was achieved by sampling with the new epibenthic sled. Hessler and Sanders were able to document the large diversity of the macrofauna over a broad area with their device. They were surprised by the numbers collected. They pulled the sled at a depth of 1,500 meters for an hour and caught 10.804 worms of 91 different species, 4,393 arthropods of 127 species, 6,713 mollusks of 84 species and 2,715 echinoderms of 20 different species. When they sampled from the abyssal plain at 5,000 meters they collected a total of 3,737 animals and 196 different species. This showed that the deep sea was not barren and that it is actually very diverse. 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. As they brought their samples up from the deep, through the shallower water, the turbulence would cause the lighter organisms to fall out of the net. Therefore, the diversity of the sample was low as they lost fauna on the way up. The epibenthic sled reduces this effect by closing the opening to the net so no species is lost. Sometimes a single sample from the sled Hessler and Sanders used would have an equivalent number of specimens as the total number combined from all expeditions over the previous 100 years. Through using the epibenthic sled the knowledge that there is high diversity in the deep sea is now well established. As more information is gathered, the deep-sea environment becomes more comparable to a highly diverse terrestrial environment such as tropical rainforests. Limitations The epibenthic sled has helped to establish that there is a high species diversity in the deep sea, however, there are some limitations to the sled. The epibenthic sled should not be used for a quantitative study. 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. In addition the diversity of the seafloor may be higher than the sled shows as it is limited by: Clogging of the opening by sediment Damage to the more delicate specimens as they are scooped up Irregular filtering if the mesh is clogged Avoidance behavior of the sled by some species Displacement of animals by the