WAM-TS Preservation and Lodgement of Marine Specimens
Preservation and Lodgement of Marine Fauna
Version 2 (Oct 2011)
PRESERVATION
As a general rule, an ethanol solution >75% can be used to preserve specimens, however
many animal groups require specific preservation methods to preserve diagnostic characters.
Likewise larger animals generally may be frozen, as long as they remain frozen from the
time of collection until their arrival at the Museum. Decomposing specimens will be
rejected, except in cases where they had to be taken from the hull of a vessel on the slips.
Specimens should be placed in preservative as soon as possible after collection/removal from
the water.
Ethanol preservation
The dilution of ethanol should be made using distilled water, and not sea water.
Formalin preservation
A 4% formaldehyde (= 10 % formalin) solution should be made up using sea water not
fresh water. As Formalin is acidic (pH 3–4.6) it can quickly dissolve calcareous structures.
Sea water acts as a partial buffer, but only temporarily.
Freezing
Soft-bodied, gelatinous animals should be chilled prior to freezing. Rapid freezing can cause
ice crystal to form too quickly damaging delicate tissues such as the internal organs. This is
particularly important for animals that require anatomical or histological examination such as
oysters, some mussels, flatworms and sea anemones. Fragile or delicate specimens should
be frozen in seawater as an ice block to prevent mechanical damage during transport.
Narcotising
Many gelatinous taxa require narcotising prior to preservation. Narcotising the animal
effectively relaxes the animal preventing the innate defensive mechanisms induced by the
shock of placing the animal in preservative. Sea anemones (Cnidaria; Anthozoa) as an
example typically retract their tentacles upon coming into contact with ethanol, the
contracted muscles are surprisingly hard and make examination difficult. Bivalves such as
oysters and mussels close their valves tightly, preventing the preservation of the soft parts
necessary for species identification Typical narcotising methods include refrigerating
specimens, bathing them in a solution of magnesium chloride (MgCL2) or menthol crystals.
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WAM-TS Preservation and Lodgement of Marine Specimens
Table 1. Preservation methods for key taxa
Taxa
Annelids
Leeches
Narcotise?
Preservation
Notes
Y
75% ETOH
Refrigerate in seawater (if marine species) for 30 min
prior to preservation in ethanol
Oligochaetes
Polychaetes
Ascidians
75% ETOH
75% ETOH
Y
Bryozoans
put in container in feshwater and add MgCl and put
in fridge to relax before preservation
75 % ETOH or
Freeze
Cnidaria
hard corals
soft corals
dry or 75%ETOH
75 % ETOH or
Freeze
75 % ETOH or
Freeze
sea pens
Crustaceans
Echinoderms
Holothurians
75 % ETOH or
Freeze
75 % ETOH or
Freeze
Y
Echinoids
Asteroids
Freeze or
75%ETOH
Freeze or
75%ETOH
Freeze or 75%
ETOH
Crinoids
Y
ETOH
Y
Freeze or 75%
ETOH
Ophiuroids
Fish
to dry: bleach/rinse/dry keep a duplicate in ETOH
small in ETOH - large freeze
small in ETOH - large freeze
small and delicate specimens preferably preserved
in ethanol, if not then freeze in a small amount of
seawater for protection.
Refrigerate in seawater for 30 min prior to
preservation in ethanol
Place in container with label between layers of paper
towel, add 75% ETOH carefully, place layer of paper
towel on top and press down unitl flat and animal
relaxs. Lift towel and adjust animal, return paper
towel and add next specimens. DON’T FREEZE
Relax in MgCl - add solution to animal in seawater
until half mgCl and half sw. on relaxed freeze flat or
between layers of paper towel in ETOH as for
crinoids
When freezing, freeze the animal flat.
Freeze or 10%
Formalin
Incision into gut cavity on right hand side for
specimens over approx. 30mm in length to facilitate
internal preservation. Preserve in container large
enough to allow specimens to lie flat (long eelshaped specimens may be curled in half).
WAM-TS Preservation and Lodgement of Marine Specimens
Molluscs
Bivalves etc
Bivalves/chitons/ scaphopods/gastropods except
opisthobranchs
Y
Freeze or 75%
ETOH
Shell of bivalves may be gently broken or edge
chipped or bored to allow entry of ethanol
(immediate effect)
Gradual addition of Magnesium chloride solution or
ethanol to sea water to kill (may take 12 hours).
Cephalopods
Freeze or 75%
ETOH
Opisthobranchs
Y
100% ETOH
relax & kill in freshwater (take care that it cannot
escape!), straighten tentacles, then freeze
photograph live animal moving in sea water, needs
tentacles out, may need to leave a while to recover,
put animal in vial in sw in fridge, to kill, may need to
leave overnight, or in freezer until water just starts to
form ice on surface - not the whole lot. Touch
rhinophore to see if still alive - when dead put in
ETOH. photo should be numbered & identical
number put with specimen
Sponges
75 % ETOH or
Freeze
small in ETOH - large freeze
Colour photographs
Colour photographs of live or freshly killed specimens are desirable as colours may fade or
change after death and preservation. Please note photographs are generally not enough for
identification to species level. For fish, photographs should be of the left side of the animal.
DNA preservation
Sample of each species very desirable. As a general guideline use 100% ethanol where
appropriate. For fish, take tissue samples from right hand side.
Storage
Each container should contain a unique coded identifier that we can quote when
supplying identifications.
Each container should contain a small printed label specifying the concentration of the
ethanol (e.g. “100% ETOH” or “75% ETOH”).
Appropriate glassware is preferred as this is how the specimens will be permanently stored.
Frozen specimens should be placed in plastic bags or jars.
Labels
Each sample lot should contain a clearly printed label with the following specifications:
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Locality information should include: Country, state, island, landmark, (or river/stream
etc if freshwater) site details, substrate, depth.
Use Latitudes and Longitudes (DD°MM’SS”) NOT UTMs or decimal degrees.
Seconds can be up to two digits after the comma. Specify the datum (e.g. WGS84,
GDA94)
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WAM-TS Preservation and Lodgement of Marine Specimens
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Date collected in following format; dd/mm/yyyy
Collector & organisation.
Collecting method, time of day.
Habitat: i.e. marine, brackish or freshwater
Do not rely on external labelling. Labels must be placed inside the container. Permanent
marker can easily be rubbed off from plastic surfaces or dissolved in solvents such as
ethanol.
Electronic data
Please provide electronic data with your specimens for direct import into the WAM database.
Use the columns in your Excel spreadsheet as per the aproppriate database template with
the maximum number of characters per column as indicated (our database fields have length
restrictions and any data exceeding this length will be truncated and is lost, or data import
doesn’t work).
Please format all fields in your Excel spreadsheet as “Text”, e.g. the date field
should not be automatically formatted as date!!
Identification
At this point, the identifications of specimens belonging to the groups Annelida, Ascidiacea,
Bryozoa and Cnidaria are available only by outsourcing. In such cases you would be
contacted to determine if you wish to proceed.
Delivery
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Specimens should be delivered to the Western Australian Museum after filling out the
on-line submission form on the Western Australian Museum website:
http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/consultation/submissions.
When attaching electronic data for the specimens, please make sure they are
formatted as requested in the WAM database template that is also available on
the WA Museum submission website and described in Appendix 1 (fill out yellow
columns only following appropriate field character number restrictions) for ease of
transfer of data to our database.
You will be sent a project-specific chain of custody receipt once the submission
has been checked.
Please print the chain of custody receipt in triplicate for signing upon delivery of
the specimens
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WAM-TS Preservation and Lodgement of Marine Specimens
Checklist:
Storage and labelling:
 Specimens in SAMCO vials or suitable jars
 If extra tissue in 100% ethanol: 2 ml Cryotube used
 All labels on Tablex Board
 All labels fixed by cooking 20-30min at 100°C
 Label with unique coded identifier
 Label: “75%EtOH” or “100%EtOH”
 Locality label in 4.5 font Arial
 Locality label: locality with gazetteer reference
 Locality label: coordinates in DD°MM’SS.SS”S, DD°MM’SS.SS”E (not UTM or
decimal degrees) and with datum (WGS84 or GDA94)
 Locality label: date with month spelled out (abbreviated) - not as a number, and
full year (e.g. 16 Oct. 2008)
 Label size: max. 35mm x 10mm.
 Spare locality labels if more than one species is suspected in the contents of
a vial.
Delivery:
 Before delivery fill out on-line submission form at:
http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/consultation/submissions
 Print chain of custody forms in triplicate and bring with specimens to the museum
 Upon arrival at the museum – sign off on chain of custody documents