Preserving fish teeth and skulls - #1

After doing some test specimens, now I'm ready to try to do a whole fish skull. You can follow my blog as I've just started on a new specimen.

Tools:

Tweezers, long needle, glass bottles, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, glue (I use Duco cement)

Step 1
Removed the head of the fish at one of the vertebrae. Chose a nice sized head of Coral Trout. Looks to have a pretty nice set of teeth!

Step 2 - Maceration (2 options)

Cold maceration - This means you have to try to remove all the meat and flesh on the fish head with a knife. Remove as much as you can and then place the head in a bottle. Fill it with tap water and place it in a warm place. This slow maceration might take up to a month to complete. Change the water every week or so until the water runs clear.

Fast maceration - This method requires you to place the fish head into a saucepan filled with water. Slowly heat up the water but NOT to boiling point. Just hot enough for the flesh on the head to be easily separated.

I choose Fast maceration!

At this point, I just try to remove as much meat as I can from the fish

After removing all the flesh that I can, I put it in a glass bottle and fill it with water.

Let's wait for a week!