Fish skulls and Skeletons....fish anatomy and random other skulls

necrocanis

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necrocanis necrocanis do you ever mount any of your skeletons for display?
I do for customers. I don't have much of a place to display anything of my own right now. Some are purchased by small museums, high schools, and universities for study and display. I've sold some for research before.
 
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necrocanis

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(Oreochromis niloticus) Nile tilapia

IMG_20190313_201602_920.jpgIMG_20190314_151700_962.jpgIMG_20190314_151534_649.jpg
 

jjohnwm

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Supercool thread! Sorry you had to post it under such unfortunate circumstances; hopefully things will be changing for the better for you...

I clean/whiten a lot of skulls as well, mostly hunting trophies; mammals, done a couple of larger birds also. Never even occurred to me to try fish! Although they look and sound like a lot more work. I use mostly the maceration technique, but live out in the sticks so the stinky containers are way out behind the barn, nowhere near the house. :) I don't even know if the beetles are available up here in Canuckistan, but they also probably require a fair bit of maintenance and feeding. How do you keep the colony going if you are between projects with no food for them?

Most of my fishing is catch and release, but when I think of some of the big fish I have seen/found dead, or been unable to revive/release successfully, or had the opportunity to salvage from other fishermen...dang! :)
 

necrocanis

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Supercool thread! Sorry you had to post it under such unfortunate circumstances; hopefully things will be changing for the better for you...

I clean/whiten a lot of skulls as well, mostly hunting trophies; mammals, done a couple of larger birds also. Never even occurred to me to try fish! Although they look and sound like a lot more work. I use mostly the maceration technique, but live out in the sticks so the stinky containers are way out behind the barn, nowhere near the house. :) I don't even know if the beetles are available up here in Canuckistan, but they also probably require a fair bit of maintenance and feeding. How do you keep the colony going if you are between projects with no food for them?

Most of my fishing is catch and release, but when I think of some of the big fish I have seen/found dead, or been unable to revive/release successfully, or had the opportunity to salvage from other fishermen...dang! :)
Yeah they can require work. Mostly it's getting the amount your colony can eat right and keeping them fed so they don't eat the young. I wouldn't know about in between periods because I always have stuff for them. They will eat scraps of meat though.

You can macerate fish skulls but I'd recommend having a very intimate knowledge of fish skeletal anatomy of whatever species you are working on. Maceration and fish skulls usually equals hundreds of skull bones loose and also the teeth will sometimes fall out. The teeth aren't rooted like mammals so they just sheet off at the bone. Can't imagine gluing thousands of tiny teeth back in lol.
 

necrocanis

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Oh a Muskie or pike full skeleton mount would look awesome!
Yes I agree just need to get my hands on full specimens to work on. So far I've only received heads.
 

necrocanis

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Fascinating thread, looking forward to see what else you have for us.
I'm not normally squeamish but the pic of the bugs eating the dead pacu is sort of disturbing.

Haha yeah it's not for everyone. I'm very fascinated by the process always. One year when I didn't have my beetles I collected a wild species of dermestid beetle native to Montana from an animal corpse and started one up
 

necrocanis

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Some of you will like this one. It's the skeleton of about a 15-16" Datnoid I'm working on. :)

IMG_20200124_133637.jpg
 

necrocanis

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Big thanks to a member on here for sending me these beautiful White Catfish/Bullheads (Ameiurus catus) to work on. I also received several other species of fish to work on but you guys know I have to do a catfish first ;). These will be awesome to compare with my channel catfish skeletons as well as my flathead I'll be working on this year also.

As a side not I hope I can work some magic and get one as a pet also haha. Big thanks for sure. Skulls and skeletons to be shown off here during progress and when finished.

It's my first time seeing this species in person.....I will probably dork out and get as much data as I can on them as well. Some are decent sized. You guys know I want to grow one out into a monster if I can get a live one haha.

I've already cut into the smaller one in this picture and it was a female.

Just an FYI these were harvested from invasive populations outside their native range.

IMG_20200125_150041.jpg
 
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