Cephalopods collected from a sperm whale stomach
Vials containing beaks removed from a sperm whale stomach |
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It is
better to keep fresh buccal masses and beaks separated into stages in 40-50%
isopropyl alcohol or 70-80% ethanol. Beaks and hard parts like statoliths should also be put into alcohol
rather than drying. Undigested to stage
2 digested specimens should be preserved individually in jars with alcohol. The muscle tissue, buccal mass, and beaks of
individual specimens should be stored together in alcohol for specimens collected
at stages 3-4. For specimens collected
at stages 5-7, if the upper and lower beak pairs can be recognized put them in a
vial together; for those beaks that cannot be paired, place all the upper beaks
in a jar of alcohol and all the lower beaks in a separate jar of alcohol. In each bottle include a label recording
predator, specimen number, and collection date and locality, in pencil. It is advisable to prepare several sizes of bottles to accommodate the
variety of sizes of specimens i.e. 20l, 3-4l, and 6-20ml glass screw-top
vial for beaks.
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