[Nhcoll-l] Preserve fish specimens

Tue Sep 20 09:31:25 EDT 2022

Claire

Good luck.  We look forward to your results.  Attached are some additional resources should you need them.

We look forward to your results being published.

Andy

    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V
Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
USA

Tel: (785) 864-3863
Fax: (785) 864-5335 
Email: abentley at ku.edu  
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu
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-----Original Message-----
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Claire Smith
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2022 2:53 AM
To: Simon Moore <couteaufin at btinternet.com>; a.j.van_dam at lumc.nl
Cc: NHCOLL-new <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Preserve fish specimens

Hi All,
I have been watching this thread with interest, and while I don't have anything to add right now, I have recently begun a PhD looking into exactly this subject. I will be assessing the success of the older methods (Kaiserling; Jore) and the more recent (Wentworth etc), as well as looking into potential improvements. 

Best wishes,
Claire 

*******
Claire Smith (she/her)
Graduate Teaching Assistant & PhD Candidate, Cole Museum of Zoology University of Reading c.e.smith at pgr.reading.ac.uk claire.smith at reading.ac.uk
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-----Original Message-----
From: Nhcoll-l [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Simon Moore
Sent: 18 September 2022 23:28
To: a.j.van_dam at lumc.nl
Cc: cutraccimaxine at gmail.com; NHCOLL-new <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [MOGELIJK SPAM ! *****] Re: Preserve fish specimens

Although I agree with everything that has been said, especially about the lability of pigments in fish; is there still a preferred method of preserving colour and particularly the really sensitive / fugitive pigments.  Year ago, I was presented with a cuckoo wrasse and I tried the much-loved Kaiserling tripartite method and which uses some glycerine, carefully monitoring the pH of the solutions before and after fixation and during preservation.  
I noted that the colours lasted a few weeks before they started to alter - more monitoring of pH levels but not much change in pH (c. 0.2-0.3) but this may be enough to tip the balance against good colour preservation.
Alas, this was a one-ff so I didn't have more specimens to try and improve the longevity of the colour preservation but at least it worked for a short while!

What I am also asking, is there an improved method as yet?

With all good wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian,

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> On 18 Sep 2022, at 19:25, <a.j.van_dam at lumc.nl> <a.j.van_dam at lumc.nl> wrote:
> 
> I rest my case...
> 
> --Dries
> 
> Andries J. van Dam | curator-conservator
>  
> Anatomical Museum | Leiden University Medical Center | Building 3
> (V3-32) P.O.Box 9600 | 2300 RC Leiden | The Netherlands Visiting
> address: Hippocratespad 21 | Tel: +31 (0)71 52 68356 | E-mail: 
> A.J.van_Dam at lumc.nl
>  
> Scientific associate | Natural History Museum London |
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.n
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> Van: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> namens John E 
> Simmons <simmons.johne at gmail.com>
> Verzonden: zondag 18 september 2022 20:09:59
> Aan: Maxine C
> CC: NHCOLL-new
> Onderwerp: [MOGELIJK SPAM ! *****] Re: [Nhcoll-l] Preserve fish 
> specimens
>  
> I agree with Dirk--it is not possible to preserve the colors found in living fish (or any other organism) by preseCorvation in fluid preservatives. There are several factors to consider, including:
> 1-Color comes from a combination of pigments (many of which are photosensitive or subject to alteration by the fixatives or preservatives) and the reflection and refraction of light, so that any shrinkage or swelling is likely to alter color even if the pigments are not affected.
> 2-In most organisms, color is not stable. Some colors are temporal (depending on the time of year), affected by the environment, the age of the organism, or the time of life of the organism (for example, colors that show only during mating season).
> 3-The perception of color of an organism by a human being may be very different from how the color is seen by other species.
> 
> Over the last 200 years, there have been dozens of recipes published 
> for the preservation of color or restoration of color in preserved 
> tissues. The one element linking all of these publications is that 
> very few of them used an accurate color reference standard. Instead, a 
> researcher would look at the specimen weeks or months after 
> preservation and pronounce its colors to be lifelike without reference 
> to what the colors were at the moment of preservation. Without a color 
> reference, it is impossible to look at a specimen and claim that its 
> colors have not changed. I reviewed several of these recipes in my 
> book, Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference 
> (https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww
> .amazon.com%2FFluid-Preservation-Comprehensive-John-Simmons%2Fdp%2F144
> 2229659&data=05%7C01%7Cabentley%40ku.edu%7C53dac261791647519ce908d
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 LjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=H8cQ5uJ6qAwx5VeTuY2WYpoia%2BvUWMsu2jdJtkPXLTs%3D&reserved=0).
> 
> It is not possible to avoid swelling and shrinkage of specimens during preservation, either, but it can be minimized. The dimensional changes that an organism goes through during fixation and preservation are highly variable, even within a species (I reviewed the literature on dimensional changes during fixation and preservation in the above mentioned book as well). Dimensional changes result not only from the fixative and preservative chemicals used, but also how the specimens are handled, euthanized, the time interval between death and fixation or preservation, and the light exposure that a specimen is subjected to during the process of preservation.
> 
> There are a few things you can do during preservation that will keep the change of color as well as dimensional changes at a minimum (but you cannot save the actual colors of the organism at the time of its death, and specimens will undergo body mass changes during preservation):
> 1. Keep the specimen in the dark as much as possible (particularly away from sunlight, which is rich in ultraviolet radiation), both during fixation and subsequent preservation.
> 2. Minimize the length of time the specimen is kept in a formaldehyde-based fixative (depending on the specimen size and surface-to-volume ratio, this may mean a few hours or a few days).
> 3. Keep the specimen at cool (but not cold) temperatures (heat accelerates the chemical processes that cause color changes).
> 4. Stage specimens through concentration steps of about 20% each as you move the specimen from the formaldehyde-based fixative to an alcohol-based preservative.
> 5. Prepare fixative and preservative fluids using the cleanest water possible (ideally, deionized water). Do not use denatured alcohol. There is no evidence from controlled studies to indicate that glycerine will preserve colors any better than ethyl alcohol, and there are too many uncontrolled variables to make that assumption based on examination of specimens post-preservation.
> 
> The only way to preserve an accurate record of the colors of an 
> organism at the moment of its death is to take photographs. However, 
> there are many variables that can affect color rendition in 
> photographs as well, such as light intensity, light color, and the 
> equipment you use. To be able to correct for these factors later, 
> always include a color scale in the photograph. It is not possible to 
> make accurate color corrections in images (whether analog or digital) 
> without having a scale in the original photograph. There are many 
> color scales you can get for use in the field, such as this one:
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Feur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww&data=05%7C01%7Cabentley%40ku.edu%7C53dac261791647519ce908da9afc5af8%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637992705918589686%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=RRBS%2BZrz2YPITLSgY6cIw6fw0DTtZuW78M4rpgdrfGk%3D&reserved=0.
> bhphotovideo.com%2Fc%2Fproduct%2F714596-REG%2FTiffen_EK1527654T_Q_13_C
> olor_Separation_Guide.html%2F%3Fap%3Dy%26ap%3Dy%26smp%3Dy%26smp%3Dy%26
> lsft%3DBI%253A6879%26gclid%3DCjwKCAjwg5uZBhATEiwAhhRLHsmNShKFUMn2utxap
> xXxbKQCGo_o1z68Xqmr2tMnLTxSDW6AJrX9LxoCcBoQAvD_BwE&data=05%7C01%7C
> c.e.smith%40pgr.reading.ac.uk%7C8fabf60265c64da609ab08da99c51df7%7C4ff
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> qiH9Gc804%3D&reserved=0
> 
> --John
> 
> John E. Simmons
> Writer and Museum Consultant
> Museologica
> and
> Associate Curator of Collections
> Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery Penn State University 
> and Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia Museo de 
> Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima
> 
> 
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2022 at 7:44 AM Maxine C <cutraccimaxine at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm working on a research project at the University of Hong Kong on fish biodiversity. We would like to preserve very small cryptobenthic fish species ( 5 - 10 mm in length). 
> In the past, I've used formalin and ethanol 70% but I'd like to preserve the coloration.
> 
> Any advice? Would resin work?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Maxine
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