[Non-ceph] Monster sunfish

[DHyslop]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

 

[tonmo]

Steve -- I'm sorry to hear that as well!

Here is the AWESOME video. This thread is one for the ages. I will likely work to convert the content into an article-friendly format.

 

[monty]

Sorry to hear it (although I must admit, I'm perhaps almost as sorry for the apartment dwellers). I'm surprised the AUT security people didn't deliver it to your front lawn out of spite-- then you don't lose the fish, they get the problem solved and some smug satisfaction, and the only victims are your neighbors... who are presumably used to you carting large, smelly aquatic creatures about, if that "WildBoyz" episode is any indication... You sound like there is no hope of recovering the bones from wherever the AUT security folks took it-- was it destroyed/incinerated/sunk at sea/???

I thought you Kiwi's said "flats" rather than "apartments" like the Brits-- I guess I was confused?

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Sorry, I should have been more clear; we still have the bones (we extracted them late Saturday eve)!! I'd have seen red if we lost those after all of that work; they're in a 3m x 1m stainless steel vat, pickling down. Security only disposed of ~ 70 rubbish sacks of offal (saving us this most unpleasant job).

 

[monty]

in that case, I'm really more sympathetic for the apartment-dwellers!

 

[DHyslop]

...and the security guards!

 

[main_board]

Sweet deal, Steve! And an amazing video. My favourite part is watching the dorsal fin slowly fall towards the ground as the layers of supporting flesh are peeled away. Very systematic. I'm impressed! All you need now is to choreograph your dissections to music!

Cheers!

 

[Sordes]

This must be really a hard job. I know how much work it is to dissect a human body and presevere all the important anatomical structures and how much squirmy leftovers accrue, but it must be horrible if you can wade in those leftovers. The removing of the skin alone was surely a nightmare, skinning a human can already be difficult enough...

By the way, if anybody wonders why I dissected (or am still dissecting) a human body, I have not to dispose murder victim, but for some strange reason I have to absolve a practical anatomy-class this semester.

 

[Tintenfisch]

The one in the green pants and striped shirt is my sister.

 

[main_board]

The one in the green pants and striped shirt is my sister.

Really? I was almost sure that it was you sportin' a new hair do! Hope the battin' is going well down in NZ.

 

[Animal Mother]

This must be really a hard job. I know how much work it is to dissect a human body and presevere all the important anatomical structures and how much squirmy leftovers accrue, but it must be horrible if you can wade in those leftovers. The removing of the skin alone was surely a nightmare, skinning a human can already be difficult enough...

By the way, if anybody wonders why I dissected (or am still dissecting) a human body, I have not to dispose murder victim, but for some strange reason I have to absolve a practical anatomy-class this semester.

I had to remove dogs heads to ship to Austin for rabies tests. That was not pleasant to say the least. I couldn't handle doing a human body.

That Sunfish had some crazy insullation... it's flesh looks like chunks of styrofoam. Was it thawed or still fairly frozen?

 

[Jean]

The stench must've been incredible. We occasionally boil seal or sea lion heads (to get at the teeth,for ageing, in particular without damaging the skull) and that's fairly aromatic. We have an advantage tho' we're out in the country with only one residence near by...the resident tech who should be used to odd aromas! Security does come out but they've learned to ignore such pongs (although it usually sets the dogs to drooling!!!!!!).

I guess now you have the fun of re-articulating the bones!

J

 

[Infusoria]

The stench must've been incredible. We occasionally boil seal or sea lion heads (to get at the teeth,for ageing, in particular without damaging the skull) and that's fairly aromatic. We have an advantage tho' we're out in the country with only one residence near by...the resident tech who should be used to odd aromas! Security does come out but they've learned to ignore such pongs (although it usually sets the dogs to drooling!!!!!!).

I guess now you have the fun of re-articulating the bones!

J

Actually one of the many weird things regarding the sunfish was that it didn't smell bad. Well apart from when I did gut content analysis; that smelt as bad as decomposing whale...

Here's a pic later on in the dissection...

 

[Infusoria]

Amazing what you can do with a water blaster.

I have hundreds of pictures of this sunfish, unfortunately I'm currently stuck on a dial-up connection so I'm putting them up small, one at a time...

Still, it's better than no internet at all.

 

[Infusoria]

...more sunfish carnage...