[Nhcoll-l] bagging and thawing or thawing and bagging?

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Dirk

If it were me, I would thaw them, then complete the drying process through air drying, bag them individually and include a desiccant packet in each bag to prevent further moisture problems and mold.  I guess you could always bag them in batches based on species, size or some other criteria.

Andy

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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<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Dirk Neumann <neumann at snsb.de>
Reply-To: "neumann at snsb.de" <neumann at snsb.de>
Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 5:58 AM
To: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] bagging and thawing or thawing and bagging?


Hi all,

a brief question regarding bagging of dry shark fins that were confiscated by customs (approx. 50 kg) and deposited in our collection. When the material arrived, boxes were full of life with thick layers of beetle remains at their bottom. We kept the fins mostly frozen so far (several freezing / thawing cycles to kill the critters) but now have to move the fins into our storage area where they will be kept at room temperature.

Because of major renovation works, our climate control systems are currently shut down thus temperature and rH are fluctuating and not really stable, thus I was wondering if I should seal small subsets (5-10 fins, depending on their size and volume) while they are still frozen to avoid that tissues would attract too much humidity during thawing. Of course this would cause condensation inside bags after sealing to some extent, but given the small total volume of air inside the bags, potential negative effects might be negligible ? Bagged fins will finally be stored in transparent plastic boxes to allow easy monitoring.

Any ideas/ suggestions would be welcome; thanks in advance

Dirk
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Dirk Neumann

Tel: 089 / 8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de

Postanschrift:

Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns
Zoologische Staatssammlung München
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Dirk Neumann

Tel: +49-89-8107-111
Fax: +49-89-8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de

postal address:

Bavarian Natural History Collections
The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology
Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Storage
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