My dad broiled four or five salmon heads for dinner, allowing for me to have an unprecedented insight into salmon anatomy. Here's hoping I can skeletonize the heads!
salmon tongues are spiky do not touch
Edit: Jaws! One of the heads was so badly mangled from having the meat and gills shredded off that the jaw fell clean off and the flesh holding its two halves together came away. I chucked the pieces into my superworms colony overnight; it's been 20 hours and now they've worked their magic almost all of the meat is either eaten away or fell off when I picked it up. One half of the jaw split into two pieces because fish heads are absurdly intricate; they still fit together though and there's even teeth! I'm going to use my brother's scalpel to finish cleaning the bones and then use wires to mount them.
My dad broiled four or five salmon heads for dinner, allowing for me to have an unprecedented insight into salmon anatomy. Here's hoping I can skeletonize the heads!
salmon tongues are spiky do not touch
Edit: Jaws! One of the heads was so badly mangled from having the meat and gills shredded off that the jaw fell clean off and the flesh holding its two halves together came away. I chucked the pieces into my superworms colony overnight; it's been 20 hours and now they've worked their magic almost all of the meat is either eaten away or fell off when I picked it up. One half of the jaw split into two pieces because fish heads are absurdly intricate; they still fit together though and there's even teeth! I'm going to use my brother's scalpel to finish cleaning the bones and then use wires to mount them.
The jaws are completely skeletonized now and they have to be glued together because the cartilage holding the pieces in place disintegrated. The lower jaw of a salmon comes in four pieces, or only two if you don't count double for symmetry; each side is made out of one piece jammed inside another and held by a cartilagenous rod. I made a diagram to remind myself how they fit together and felt like a proper biologist in doing so.
I'm really proud of myself and they'd look really awesome if I mounted them somehow. In other news, I found a baby gecko skull in the yard, and it's sooo tiny it's just begging to be resin cast.
The jaws are completely skeletonized now and they have to be glued together because the cartilage holding the pieces in place disintegrated. The lower jaw of a salmon comes in four pieces, or only two if you don't count double for symmetry; each side is made out of one piece jammed inside another and held by a cartilagenous rod. I made a diagram to remind myself how they fit together and felt like a proper biologist in doing so.
I'm really proud of myself and they'd look really awesome if I mounted them somehow. In other news, I found a baby gecko skull in the yard, and it's sooo tiny it's just begging to be resin cast.
@
GingerC
oh that all sounds so cool! I think fish bones are super bad *** but I have a hard time with them. I do have a smaller bass to work on, but the bones are quite messy and de-articulated
I'm sure a cool mount idea wouldn't be too hard, I'd suggest maybe some scavenged wood from a log or something.
I really love the look of resin, people can do such cool stuff with it. Again, would love to see pics of the gecko, as long as the skull is completely clean and stuff
i can stand some horrific gore without a second guess but small dead lizards freak me out sooo bad
@
GingerC
oh that all sounds so cool! I think fish bones are super bad *** but I have a hard time with them. I do have a smaller bass to work on, but the bones are quite messy and de-articulated
I'm sure a cool mount idea wouldn't be too hard, I'd suggest maybe some scavenged wood from a log or something.
I really love the look of resin, people can do such cool stuff with it. Again, would love to see pics of the gecko, as long as the skull is completely clean and stuff
i can stand some horrific gore without a second guess but small dead lizards freak me out sooo bad
@
LizardKing
Originally, I wanted to skeletonize the whole head, but I looked up pictures, saw just how many bones are in a salmon's head, and noped the heck out of that project. What a nightmare. I wish I had an upper jaw, but I can still make a rad mount with it.
The lizard skull doesn't have any recognizable flesh left (maybe a bit of skin... or just dirt, it's that hard to tell) but it's so small it would be impossible to clean. I'm going to make a ring out of it.
@
LizardKing
Originally, I wanted to skeletonize the whole head, but I looked up pictures, saw just how many bones are in a salmon's head, and noped the heck out of that project. What a nightmare. I wish I had an upper jaw, but I can still make a rad mount with it.
The lizard skull doesn't have any recognizable flesh left (maybe a bit of skin... or just dirt, it's that hard to tell) but it's so small it would be impossible to clean. I'm going to make a ring out of it.
@LizardKing
I remember you specifically wanting to see pics of Lilith Butterfly when I was done~ I have some WIP pics too, mainly just fresh out of the freezer, and pinned before framing~ She's an Easter Tiger Swallowtail. [s](To which when I told me niece she said: "Uh... That's a butterfly..." with all the dry sass a child her age can muster)[/s] The second picture is best representative of her colors.
[img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/04e504d8e720f16228cf8250b7689f53/tumblr_oy7npqO4eg1wfuv5ho1_1280.jpg[/img]
[img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/4e5131d30824cbab04fecdcc22658e13/tumblr_oy7npqO4eg1wfuv5ho2_1280.jpg[/img]
[img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/9a124d4c322c2f011ce09ee1d9b51cf9/tumblr_oy7npqO4eg1wfuv5ho3_1280.jpg[/img]
[spoiler]Turned out that the shadowbox was just a tad to shallow, but looking at it from the front/above you can't tell that the pin has bent (I thought it shifted in her body, it didn't!), and if you one didn't know but saw the angling they'd just assume she was posed for dramatic effect.[/spoiler]
@
LizardKing
I remember you specifically wanting to see pics of Lilith Butterfly when I was done~ I have some WIP pics too, mainly just fresh out of the freezer, and pinned before framing~ She's an Easter Tiger Swallowtail.
(To which when I told me niece she said: "Uh... That's a butterfly..." with all the dry sass a child her age can muster) The second picture is best representative of her colors.
Turned out that the shadowbox was just a tad to shallow, but looking at it from the front/above you can't tell that the pin has bent (I thought it shifted in her body, it didn't!), and if you one didn't know but saw the angling they'd just assume she was posed for dramatic effect.
@
BeeFuzz
Oh nice, Lilith is gorgeous! I certainly can't see bent pinning problems, though I think I am by far most focused on those colors... I love all the little orange details on the bottom of her wings, this is such a pretty specimen
Just hope next time you can get an easier container, but I think this was an awesome outcome
@
BeeFuzz
Oh nice, Lilith is gorgeous! I certainly can't see bent pinning problems, though I think I am by far most focused on those colors... I love all the little orange details on the bottom of her wings, this is such a pretty specimen
Just hope next time you can get an easier container, but I think this was an awesome outcome
Wet preserve talk under spoilers
[spoiler]So, I put my wet preserve duckling in his final jar today. Its super cute, it has little viewing windows. You can PM me if you want to see it.
He's stored with what he was fixed in, 70% ethyl alcohol. No signs of decay, no floating or anything. I'm no where near a pro, but I think all in all this came out pretty decently. [/spoiler]
I actually wasn't able to do this in my normal work place because it was an unsanitary mess and I do actually need some degree of sanitation for this, and I didn't feel like cleaning it up because there was a [spoiler] little dead lizard[/spoiler] and yeah gods forbid I touch one of those so here's a picture of my make shift lab for fun
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/vckz1Ol.jpg[/img][/center]
Wet preserve talk under spoilers
So, I put my wet preserve duckling in his final jar today. Its super cute, it has little viewing windows. You can PM me if you want to see it.
He's stored with what he was fixed in, 70% ethyl alcohol. No signs of decay, no floating or anything. I'm no where near a pro, but I think all in all this came out pretty decently.
I actually wasn't able to do this in my normal work place because it was an unsanitary mess and I do actually need some degree of sanitation for this, and I didn't feel like cleaning it up because there was a
little dead lizard and yeah gods forbid I touch one of those so here's a picture of my make shift lab for fun
i have some pictures of LizardKing's wet specimen on my tumblr!
if you want to see the wet specimen ducky, heres a link! obvious content warning
http://forthegaytergood.tumblr.com/post/166922477734
also RIP you can see my unhealthy aloe pups in the makeshift lab pic ^^ :/
i have some pictures of LizardKing's wet specimen on my tumblr!
if you want to see the wet specimen ducky, heres a link! obvious content warning
http://forthegaytergood.tumblr.com/post/166922477734
also RIP you can see my unhealthy aloe pups in the makeshift lab pic ^^ :/
[center]Happy Halloween, Taxidermy, Skulls and More!
[img]https://i.imgur.com/5zbh6LZ.png[/img]
[/center]
Happy Halloween, Taxidermy, Skulls and More!
Halloween has blessed me with the rediscovery of a deer skeleton I tripped over a few months back. Okay I rediscovered it yesterday but point being my friend and I ended up walking home with handfuls of muddy deer vertebra and rib bones, it was great. I'll go back for more pieces another day.
Also my skunk skull is terrible. I've lost it twice now, but it always pops up again. I hope it hurries up and finishes getting cleaned so I can bring it in the house, I've already lost both top canines.
Halloween has blessed me with the rediscovery of a deer skeleton I tripped over a few months back. Okay I rediscovered it yesterday but point being my friend and I ended up walking home with handfuls of muddy deer vertebra and rib bones, it was great. I'll go back for more pieces another day.
Also my skunk skull is terrible. I've lost it twice now, but it always pops up again. I hope it hurries up and finishes getting cleaned so I can bring it in the house, I've already lost both top canines.
