[NHCOLL-L:4957] Re: Dermestid cleaning of fish skeletons?

[John Friel]

Kirsten,

The time for dermestids to clean any skeleton is primarily a function of the size of the skeleton being prepared and the population structure of the colony. A large colony with lots of instars of all stages can potentially clean a small skeleton in less than a day. In contrast, large skeletons in a small colony, or one with few larvae can indeed take months. If a dermestid colony is well maintained it typically only takes a few weeks or less for most skeletons in my experience.

By the way I have some Bemis fish skeletons at my institution now, and some of them are large fishes (e.g., marlin, tarpon, etc), so that may also explain the impression that it took several months to completely prepared his skeletons.

Cheers,

John

On Sep 7, 2010, at 9:10 AM, Kirsten Nicholson wrote:

How long does it normally take for dermestids to clean fish skeletons?  I'm attempting to publish an article on a technique that I experimented with to speed this process.  An article by Bemis et al (2004) lends the impression that fish preparation with his proposed method of first drying the fish (after skinning and removing internal organs, large muscle masses and fascia) can take up to months.  I emailed Bemis with no response, and mind you, I'm a herpetologist, with little experience making fish skeletons.  So I'm wondering if I'm misinterpreting their article, or if in fact it can sometimes take a very long time to prep a fish skeleton with dermestids?  I recognize it may depend on the size of the fish, but for us it didn't take very long at all (hours).

Thanks for any info you can pass on!

Kirsten

--
Kirsten E. Nicholson, Ph.D

Asst. Prof. Biology
Dept. of Biology
217 Brooks Hall
Central Michigan Univ.
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
989-774-3758

and

Curator of Natural History
Museum of Cultural and Natural History
103 Rowe Hall
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
989-774-3829


--
John P. Friel, Ph.D.<http://www.cumv.cornell.edu/staff/friel.html>
Curator of Fishes, Amphibians & Reptiles
Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates<http://www.cumv.cornell.edu/>
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850-1923 USA

jpf19 at cornell.edu<mailto:jpf19 at cornell.edu>
t. +607.254.2162
f. +607.254.2415<mailto:jpf19 at cornell.edu>

All Cypriniformes Species Inventory (ACSI)<http://www.cypriniformes.org> - Discovering new cyprinid species around the world
Upper Congo Fishes Project<http://congofishes.net> - Improving our knowledge of the fishes of the Upper Congo Rapids
Zootaxa<http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/> - A mega-journal for zoological taxonomists in the world



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