[Nhcoll-l] long-term storage of amphibian larvae in formalin

[Carola Haas]

I received such great help for my previous request, and hope folks won't mind my sending another one so soon.  (I'm just a field biologist who has been tasked with a cleanout and reorganization of our collection.)

We have a number of larval amphibians (tadpoles and salamander larvae) preserved in 10% buffered formalin.  Most of our fish, amphibian, and reptile specimens were fixed in formalin but then transferred over to ethanol for long-term storage. I have read that formalin is more appropriate for long-term storage of reptile eggs and larval amphibians, but I wanted to check and make sure that is still the current practice?

I would like to improve the safety of our collections by switching to ethanol if that is acceptable, but obviously not if it will degrade the specimens.

Thank you!

Carola A. Haas
Professor, Wildlife Ecology
Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Conservation
112 Cheatham Hall
MC 0321 Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
cahaas at vt.edu
540-231-9269
http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/faculty/haas.htm





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