Eric's market adventure(s)

Eric, your mom is right that things would thaw in the move - and that would not be good. So you need to ask Steve and TTF and others in that lab what needs to go in the jar to preserve them! Formalin? Alcohol (I don't mean beer)? A lot of salt?

I hope you have enough time to write to them and get a response.

Good luck!

Melissa
 
chrono_war01 said:
Ok, Head of Science says that I should note a few things befor ebuying planes tickets for squids:

1) Is it really neccsary to send them to NZ to Dr. SOS
2) Will it break any custom's rules on sending these things
2) Formalin is extremly smelly, and I, Head of Sci. and the school don't have the proper certificates to give, or buy formalin.
3) Is it really neccsary to use formalin
4) How much would it cost.
5) Is the whole thing really neccsary.

Could anyone please answer the question above, please?

Also, how do I preserve things in baking soda, or will alcohol work? :glass:

P.S: Mom thinks that Dr.SOS wants baking soda is becuase it'll marinate well squid and all he has to do is cook it. :lol:

My-oh-my ... that'll learn me for being offline so often of late.

No, it is not terribly necessary to pickle them and send them to that SOS fellow. You should pickle them for yourself though, and keep them as a constant reminder that one day you'll grow up and be Dr Eric who works on squid!

No, you cannot preserve them in baking soda; you use baking soda as a buffer (to neutralise the acidity of formalin) so that the delicate sucker rings on each of the suckers do not dissolve. If you don't use it then all that you are left with is a pickled good-looking squid that has lost most of the valuable systematic characters (and you will regret this in years to come).

You cannot 'fix' a cephalopod in alcohol - it'll only go pink and rot on the inside (alcohol doesn't penetrate the tissues fast enough - and it will also send the tissues rather tough and brittle). Formalin might smell a little, but you only need to keep it in this stuff for a week, then rinse thoroughly (draining the formalin) and then transfer the fixed little devil into preservative (alcohol, 70% ETOH).

Somewhere you must get some formalin - even if you buy a small bottle (I find it hard to believe that you need permits for this) and store it out of the light, in a cool place, and away from where any children can get it, you will find it extremely handy to fix all sorts of animals throughout your school days. You'll be the only one there doing it ... some might think that you're a little odd ... but you'll have the best wee collection of preserved beasties of all your friends.

If you cannot get formalin you may as well go bury the poor thing beneath a tree somewhere, and stick a little cross there (and even carve into the tree trunk RIP squiddy). Then, when you're married with kids yourself you can take them there, show them the carved trunk, and say ..... whatever you want to the kids (and if you can't wait that long, take your girlfriend there).
 
Let me see....I've got the baking powder, some jars but no formalin, WAH!!!! No formalin!!!! Ok, I plan to move the squid to school so that the school can use their formalin (I think they have some limited supplies of that).

Oh, and is it true that formalin stinks like um.....something really nasty?\
 
Went to the market today and released a few juvenile triggerfish, a clownfish, a small shark, a moray eel and a fish that looked funny. Also found another Bobtail Squid and a small commercial squid, I thought it looked nice and brought it home...it in the freezer seating with the other 2 bobtails...
 
chrono_war01 said:
...and is it true that formalin stinks like um.....something really nasty?\

I don't know. We'll have to ask the Right Honourable, Regal-Footed, Sir Dr Um.... Is it true Um...?

Ja, formalin doesn't smell that great, and you have to make sure that you use it in a well-ventilated room, and use the appropriate gloves!! But it is NOT as bad as it is made out to be.

I caught the tail end of one of those crappy cop shows on telly a couple of nights back, criminal investigation/intent or something (they're all the same - acronym soup), and apparently people were dying after having worn clothes previously worn by dead people, after they had been embalmed ... and an evil mortician was selling them off for a few extra $. If what I saw on telly that night was true, I'd have been dead 1000 times over 35 years ago!

I've swum in formalin before, and fallen into huge tanks of the stuff (having slipped on squid goo), having fixed down many a giant squid in my time. It is NOT SOMETHING THAT I SUGGEST ANYONE ELSE EVER DO, and it is not something that I would do again, but I'm still here (I don't feel too good sometimes, but that's because of other abuse to the system)!! You'll be fine, as long as you abide by a few health and safety precautions. You are probably considerably worse off sitting in a car in a traffic jam, or pouring petrol in the car at a fuel station.
 
Formalin is blooming roses compared to the current scent of Sir Dr. Um....'s Regal Feet. I'm thinking about wading through a puddle of raw sewage to help make life more bearable for my housemates.

heat wave + sandals = :yuck:

:nofeet:
 
.... formalin is actually used to prevent footrot in sheep. Not sure if it'll work for you though.
 
Argh, can't find any formalin!!!!

And my mom is constantly nagging me about "Why in the world do you want to preserve squid, there's plenty out at the market and they're all the same....now who in the world in Steve O'Shea?!!?!" Sigh, she's right beside me nagging about the squid again...
 
Steve O'Shea said:
Ja, formalin doesn't smell that great, and you have to make sure that you use it in a well-ventilated room, and use the appropriate gloves!! But it is NOT as bad as it is made out to be.

Cough, cough... do as I say, not as I do???? Hmmmmm.
Yeah, I always thought the rumors of formalin as a severe carcinogen and cause of many problems down the line including reproductive ill-health were overrated, too. :roll:
 
Tintenfisch said:
Cough, cough... do as I say, not as I do???? Hmmmmm.
Yeah, I always thought the rumors of formalin as a severe carcinogen and cause of many problems down the line including reproductive ill-health were overrated, too. :roll:

If that was true, then I'm not getting near that suff without a bio-war suit and a gas mask.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top