Eric's market adventure(s)

[Steve O'Shea]

(seen the ED, but you arn't that old, are you?)

I'm ancient; am 106 and on borrowed time, have had three makeovers, two hip replacements, three pacemakers, a ton of plastic surgery, seven wives, 64 kids, and two name changes after various relocations in the witness protection program. I am originally from Italy, where I used to grow olives (my wives used to stomp bare-footed on grapes), but I had to give all that away, and all of my wives and kids, ~ 40 years ago after blowing the whistle on the mafia.

Keep your formalin (concentrated) in a dark glass bottle, and keep it out of direct sunlight; store it somewhere where no 'little person' can reach it, preferably locked up, and have the bottle VERY CLEARLY LABELLED. How much formalin a squid will 'absorb' will depend on its size, and how long you leave the little beasty in the solution.

I will get organised next week and put a few sketches online to help you pickle this little fella down.
Toodles

 

[chrono_war01]

thanks for the help, now I'll have to do some research on where to find some dark glass bottles...but why does it need to be a dark glass, an't it be the transparent ones?

 

[Melissa]

thanks for the help, now I'll have to do some research on where to find some dark glass bottles...but why does it need to be a dark glass, an't it be the transparent ones?

I guess formalin should be kept away from light, at least until you use it. The brown or green bottles used for some wine and beer might work. For now, maybe put your bottle in some kind of cover - wrapping paper, whatever, which will be easy to label, too.

Melissa

 

[sorseress]

How about using contact paper? It will definitely stick, and it is pretty much impervious to liquids. Not too easy to label, but stick on labels covered with clear plastic packing tape should do.

 

[TPOTH]

I guess formalin should be kept away from light, at least until you use it. The brown or green bottles used for some wine and beer might work. For now, maybe put your bottle in some kind of cover - wrapping paper, whatever, which will be easy to label, too.

Melissa

Tin foil is good for that. Easy to wrap around the bottles, a few layers and stick your label on (standard sticky labels should be fine).

TPOTH

 

[chrono_war01]

thanks, will try and locate bottles now.

 

[chrono_war01]

I went to the market today, bought a cuttle for a few bucks and set dumped him back into the ocean, I feel so proud of myself now.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Was he/she alive at the market?

 

[PSLee]

Hey Eric, where in HK did you go to find these critters? I'll be heading there later in the year to visit some relatives and would love to check all of this out. Plus, I want to go hunting for some colonial tunicates.
BTW, have you been to the "goldfish market"? It is easily accessible by MTR. I saw some really cool cuttlefish (Sepia spp.) the last time I was there.

 

[chrono_war01]

Hey Eric, where in HK did you go to find these critters? I'll be heading there later in the year to visit some relatives and would love to check all of this out. Plus, I want to go hunting for some colonial tunicates.
BTW, have you been to the "goldfish market"? It is easily accessible by MTR. I saw some really cool cuttlefish (Sepia spp.) the last time I was there.

Yes, I've been to the Goldfish market, it is quite a interesting place. But I havn't seen any cephs there recently, seems like that the Hong Kong population has a bigger interest in cephs as food then as pets.
Although I did see a sting-ray and a tray of jellyfish for sale...
To find these critters I was talking about involves going to Aberdeen, taking a boat to the other side and a market.
Colonial tunicates are rare in Hong Kong, although I did see ONE when I was diving last year.

Was he/she alive at the market?

Yes, very, if it was dead, I would've ate it. It was a real hard decision, having a somehwhat "rare" big-finned squd (also alive) and a bunch of trigger-fish.

 

[chrono_war01]

Went to do some snooping yesterday and got some pretty pics of cuttles torn in half, dead cuttles, a tray of dead octos and some more things I got from the market! Will start posting at the end of the week.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Originally posted by ChronoWar
pics of cuttles torn in half,

Aghhh! Now I am going to have nightmares...

 

[chrono_war01]

Hm...went to the local pet selling stores and guess what? 2 nautilus for sale!

The poor things were about the size of a 10 year olds fist..approx 10cm ( give or take 1cm) in diameter length. However, they were being kept in a empty tank (rocks or deco). The part where it troubled me was that they weren't moving at all, they were floating near the water intake and they didn't respond AT ALL to the pokes and prodes of a frustrated employee.

I asked why and the employee responded: (translated in Chinese)
"They're not moving becuase UNLIKE octos, squids and cuttles. These are deep water creatures."

Me:
"I thought octos, squids and these things are in the same family...And why aren't they moving?"

Employee:
"Don't be silly, these things are like snails, they cling to rocks. But octos are active and swim around."

Seriously.....words fail me.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Were they selling the Nautilus for pet or food ()?

 

[chrono_war01]

As pets, of course!