[NHCOLL-L:5210] Re: Preserving a dead shark

[John E Simmons]

Steven,
It is difficult to convert a frozen specimen into a good fluid preserved
specimen because as the specimen thaws, the tissues will begin to
disintegrate before the preservative can penetrate sufficiently.  I
recommend you whip up a batch of 10% buffered formaldehyde (1 part
formaldehyde + 9 parts distilled or deionized water; to each liter add 4 g
monohydrated acid sodium phosphate and 6.5 g anhydrous di-sodium
phosphate (this
is by far the most stable buffer you can use).  Place the frozen shark in
the formaldehyde and make sure you have enough formaldehyde solution to
cover the shark.  As it thaws, inject the formaldehyde solution into the
shark, taking care not to inject so much that the shark becomes bloated.
Inject the solution as deeply as the frozen tissues will permit.  Once the
specimen is fixed, you may transfer it to 70% ethyl alcohol if you prefer.

Please feel free to contact me off-list if you have any questions.

--John

John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 4:55 PM, Steven Jasinski <sej139 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone, sorry to bother the list with something that isn't really all
> that
> paleo related, but I was wondering if someone could help me out. I recently
> got
> a roughly 1 foot long baby shark. Since it is so young, I would like to
> preserve
>
>
>
> it. It is currently frozen in a block of ice until I can figure out what to
> do
> with it. Since I would like to preserve it, I was wondering what the best
> and/or
>
>
>
> easiest way to do that might be. I have been leaning toward getting some
> formaldehyde or formalin, injecting some into it and preserving it in a jar
> with
>
>
>
> the rest. If that is best, how much should I inject into it.
>
> Thanks for any help I receive,
>          ~Steven
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Steven E. Jasinski
> Paleontological and Research Assistant
> State Museum of Pennsylvania
>
>
> Graduate Studies
> Department of Biology
> East Tennessee State University
>
>
> Phone: (717)586-9835
>
>
>
>
>
>


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