Remarks on Storage and Curating of Beaks



Cephalopods collected from a sperm whale stomach

Vials containing beaks removed from a sperm whale stomach

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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