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Model Specimen

Preserved specimens stored on shelves in the Marine Vertebrate Collections at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Do these fish look fresh? Although death, chemistry and light cause color to rapidly fade , these fish are well-preserved. These fish are stored in solutions of either formalin or alcohol and arranged on shelves by family name. Photographer - Marc Tule.

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More about chemical preservatives
Materials safety data sheet (MSDS) - formalin

Materials safety data sheet (MSDS) - isopropyl alcohol

Recommendations from the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.

What makes a good scientific specimen for collections? Generally - one that isn't a duplicate and one that preserves as much of the character of the living specimen as possible. The specimen should also be preserved in a way that allows particular kinds of analysis. Scientific specimens also need reliable information about where and when a specimen was collected.

Starting with a high-quality specimen is paramount. You can take a great photo of a damaged or exceptional fish but you often want a great photo of a undamaged and typical fish. A fish that's missing parts or one that's less than fresh isn't ideal unless it's so rare that it's the only one anyone has ever seen.

Specimen preservation is equally important. You can start with a fresh fish, but if it's not stored properly, it's going to be a very decomposed fish very soon. With careful preservation, many fishes in the collections at Scripps are decades to nearly a century old. However, a single preservation doesn't serve all purposes equally well. What's preserved ideally for eating, by freezing for example, may not leave a specimen in good shape for viewing under a microscope. Certain preservatives might keep the fish intact for microscope observation but destroy it's DNA. So there's an art and science to keeping specimens in good shape.

Green-blotched rockfish Sebastest rosenblatti. Named after our previoius Curator of Fishes, Richard Rosenblatt at Scripps. Photographer - Milton Love.

Different ways of looking at specimens

Stained and cleared specimen of the Slender Mola (Ranzania laevis) Photogapher - Ralf Britz

 

Scientifc illustration - cowfish

MRI - Seeing inside without damaging the specimen

Body orientation in an MRI image

Center for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Lawrence Frank holding a fish coil, the unit that holds a fish while it moves through the MRI machine seen in the background.
Photographer - TBA

The Keck Center at UCSD's School of Medicine is a state-of-the-art imaging facility for basic and translational research.

Recognizing the need to provide dedicated research MRI systems for San Diego's large and diverse neuroscience community,the center was established in 2002 in collaboration with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Today, imaging scientists from UCSD and affiliated institutions are engaged in a wide range of studies that make use of the full spectrum of MRI imaging methods to study the metabolic, neural,vascular and anatomical substrate of normal and disordered brain function.

In addition, the Center is dedicated to fostering collaborations across traditional disciplines, building on UCSD's neuroimaging expertise to create a unique and interdisciplinary environment for scientists from the departments of bioengineering, orthopedics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and others. More information is available at http://cfmri.ucsd.edu/.