Interesting little project

[bigamefish, posts: 311]

So When i was out fishing last night i spotted a strange looking "thing" hanging upside down in a fallen tree on the river bank, This "thing" was the skull/skeleton of Esox lucius. I was surprised to see the skeleton of this fish just hanging there. I have concluded that the poor thing must have got hung/stuck in the tree last year when Manitoba had the worst flooding in 20 some years and the rivers were horrendously high. I was absolutly fascinated with this skeleton so i decided to take it home with me even though my father looked at me like i was crazy! So at home i looked up on the internet how to clean fish skulls and decided to try my hand at it! As there was no meat left on it and only a little bit of tough dried flesh on it I cut the head off of the spine and cut out some unwanted/broken bones (none of importance). So today after school was over I went down to the pharmacy to find some hydrogen peroxide, unfortunatly i could only find 3% but it was dirt cheap so i bought 3 large bottles of it for $6.00. When i got home i took a 2 liter soda bottle and cut off the top so i could fit the head in it and still have it completley submerged filled it up and put the head in and plan on leaving it in for x amount of days. When it is bleached and cleaned well enough i will open the mouth with a stick or piece of something and let it dry in the sun, when it is dry i plan on sealing it up with some shellac or a sealent of some sort. This is my first time doing this so if you have any suggestions please tell me. I will try to keep you regularly updated on the progress!

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2276]

Sounds like fun. What's next? Learning the names of all the bones in fish's skull? Sounds like your father needs to start saving for an ichthyologist education fund. And you too Pics are always great. We've already established that.

[Suckermouth, posts: 1514]

I wouldn't seal it, but that's me. I much prefer the texture of natural bone over it looking shiny and like plastic.

The bones of Esox skull should be well-described somewhere if you are planning on learning the names of the bones.

[bigamefish, posts: 311]

Yes it is going to be fun! My goal is to get skulls of most of the larger fish in manitoba, i have recruted my friend to help me as he is a fisherman that thinks if it has meat its worth eating so i told him to chop off the head of the fish that he has caught and give it to me so i can process them and preserve them! Who know maybe i could make some money off it! And yes i have taken intrest into studying ichthyology and becoming an ichthyologist, I already have a college/university savings account that we add money to quite often! And yes these skulls could be an interesting opprotunity to learn about the anatomy of the fish skull! I will be extra interested to see a channel catfish skull! @suckermouth yes that is true too the natural look could be nice too! I assume i`ll have to superglue a couple bones on to the skull after the cleaning.

[Birger]

My neice was just mentioning a project in university that had her do the complete skeleton of a Ictalurus punctatus

Birger

[Suckermouth, posts: 1514]

Yes it is going to be fun! My goal is to get skulls of most of the larger fish in manitoba, i have recruted my friend to help me as he is a fisherman that thinks if it has meat its worth eating so i told him to chop off the head of the fish that he has caught and give it to me so i can process them and preserve them! Who know maybe i could make some money off it! And yes i have taken intrest into studying ichthyology and becoming an ichthyologist, I already have a college/university savings account that we add money to quite often! And yes these skulls could be an interesting opprotunity to learn about the anatomy of the fish skull! I will be extra interested to see a channel catfish skull! @suckermouth yes that is true too the natural look could be nice too! I assume i`ll have to superglue a couple bones on to the skull after the cleaning.

I'm assuming you're in high school still, but I do wish that when I was your age someone told me what to expect when preparing to become an ichthyologist. Since you will most likely need a graduate education, you may want to check out the book "Getting What You Came For", a book about applying and being in graduate school and academia. This is a long way off since I'm assuming you're not in your undergraduate years yet, so it might not seem like it's relevant to you yet, but it is a good guide for what to expect in the future and how to prepare. If doing ichthyological research is your goal, then a PhD is necessary in this day and age. However, if you want to work for government positions related to fish work then you may not need as much graduate education. As far as specific places to study, if you want to stay in Canada, you should check out working with either Nathan Lovejoy or Hernan Lopez-Fernandez at the University of Toronto. Doing some star undergraduate work will springboard you into some good graduate programs.

Channel cat shouldn't be too hard to get a hold of. A digital scan of the channel catfish skull is also available online from the Digimorph website, which might help you piece it back together if it falls apart on you. Let me warn you though that there are a lot of tiny pieces. We have a blue cat skull here that I haven't been able to put back together...

Well-prepared skulls actually do catch quite a pretty penny; they are almost like works of art. If your friend is willing to part with a few whole or filleted fish then you could do some whole skeletons. Dermestid beetle colonies are a typical way to prepare skeletons with fresh meat on them.