Re: NANFA-- need help on preserving fish heads & skeletons

Brian Bastarache (bast_at_ici.net)
Mon, 21 May 2001 20:19:51 -0400

During my time at UMASS in the Wildlife and Fisheries Bio Program I worked
in the Comparative Zoology Museum on campus. We skeletonized a lot of
specimens. In fact, we did a large carp. We inflated its swimbladder with
a hypodermic needle and painted it with formalin. The beetles ate all the
meat off the bones an left the inflated swimbladder alone. It dried and
the swimbladder hardened in a state somewhat similar to that in life. It's
pretty cool.

Be advised, Dermestids are not that easy to deal with. Any specimens put
into the colony must be at least partially dried to discourage the blow
flies. This means you need a place to dry dead, feastering things.
Escaped Dermestids will eat the glue in book bindings, the insulation off
wires and a bunch of other things that can ruin your day. A biosecure
colony is a must.

The beetles do a great job, but the are difficult to deal with. Bones may
not copme out perfectly clean. You may need to soak and pick bits of meat
off them. I have skeletonized turtles by wrapping them in hardware cloth
and securing them outdoors. You could try the Biology Dept. at a local
college or university and ask if they would throw your specimen in with
their bugs.

If you do it yourself remember to flesh-out the specimen (cutt off the big
peices of meat). I would adviserate it and prop open the gut cavity to dry
and give the bugs easy access. Skeletons do not come out of the bugs fully
articulated. You may end up with a pile of clean bones. Fish skulls are
complicated structures made up of many bones! You must feed the colony if
you wish to keep it going between specimens.

Brian Bastarache
NANFA New England
Bristol County Natural History Center/
Bristol County Ag School-Natural Resources Dept.
Dighton, MA
bast_at_ici.net

At 03:20 PM 5/21/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Bruce, the Dermestid beetles you refer to are used to clear all kinds of
>skeletons. The only drawback with carp is that a dead fish smells so goddam
>bad... The easiest source for the beetles is do-it-yourself. If you have the
>stomach to wrestle around a dead carp, you're probably up to checking out
>roadkill animals and removing any obvious maggots and adult beetles. It's
>actually the maggots that do most of the flesheating. These Dermestid
>beetles are also available from Carolina Biological Supply Co., 2700 York
>Rd., Burlington, N.C. 27215-3398, (910) 584-0381. You might want to take a
>look at: www-adm.pdx.edu/user/bio/articula/steps/stepby.html (for advice!).
>
>--Bruce "Bone Boy" Stallsmith
>Huntsville, AL, US of A
>(on Friday I did a bones & fossils show for a local elementary school...)
>
>>From: BR0630_at_aol.com
>>Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>>To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
>>Subject: Re: NANFA-- need help on preserving fish heads & skeletons
>>Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:52:12 EDT
>>
>>I hope I'm not sending this twice. I would like to know if some of those
>>"lab" beetles that clean up flesh would clean a fish carcass of all but the
>>skeleton? I have in mind the skeleton of a large spawned out female carp.
>>Does anyone know whereabouts I might get some of these beetles?
>>Bruce Scott
>>Meridian, Idaho
>
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/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
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/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org