[Nhcoll-l] Preserving frozen fish

[Rebecca Abrams]

Hello all,
I have an ever increasing number of frozen fishes coming to me from a local
aquarium that I will be preserving in either ethanol or formalin then
ethanol. Our usual protocol is to use 100% ethanol for reasons of DNA
preservation (I know this is an unusual protocol) if the specimen will fit
into one of our jars, otherwise it goes into formalin then into 70% ethanol.
Both ASIH's online resources and John Simmons's *Fluid Preservation* say to
avoid preserving frozen specimens and if one has to then to thaw them in
the preservative and inject with preservative as they thaw.

If anyone has tips and tricks for this in particular for fish that would be
very helpful. I have some rather large friends waiting for me to prep that
I would like to not ruin by turning them to mush first. I know that I can
skeletonize them, but I would very much like to have at least one in fluid.

Thank you,
Rebecca Abrams
MA, M.Ed
Collections Manager- Fishes
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
3101 Valley Life Science Building
University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720
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