I knew that would get your attention…
Really, though, here’s my dilema, I have a nice shelf above my fishtank displaying various objects I’ve found on the beach over the years…sanddollars, starfish, etc…
Now, I’ve been finding various species of crabs, and would like to dsplay them on the shelf, but I could use some advice on how to preserve them, leaving them in their natural state. I need to find a way to preserve them, without dismembering them, and removing the stench, while still allowing them to keep their color.
Am I asking the impssible here? Or does anyone have any suggestions. I looked all over the net, and believe it or not, I found NOTHING. Come on guys, if anyone can help me, you can. Thanks in advance for any advice that might be helpful.
I’m assuming that you want to remove the soft tissues? I’ve HEARD that some scientists use ants to do this, so if you’ve got a nice colony of ants, leave the crab on the anthill. Do NOT do this with fire ants. First, you don’t want to give food to fire ants, it only encourages them. Second, you wouldn’t know whether the crab was ant-free when you picked it up, and fire ant bites are quite unpleasant.
Yeah, ant colonies are good for this. Some scientists use beetles to strip the remaining flesh off specimens they want skeletonized. This works really well, and there’s no reason you can’t aproximate it at home. What I think you’d want to do is find a secluded spot with direct sunlight, place the specimens under a wire mesh large enough to allow insects to get in, be small enough so that birds, cats, and dogs couldn’t take the yummy rotting thing away. I had good results using something like this when I was preparing specimens for a natural history museum in Northern California. I’ve never had occasion to preserve crabs, but I think that this basic method should work.
One note, though, make sure that you( or your neighbors’ living room) aren’t downwind of the specimen. Stuff rotting smells like, well, stuff rotting. “Putrescent” doesn’t begin to describe it.
I’m curious about that myself, but if they do, what have you lost? One crab. I’d say it was worth conducting the experiment. Besides, maybe you could thread wire through the limbs and have ‘poseable’ crabs.
