Submitted by mike f on 6/28/99. ( )
Can anybody explain the dorsal incision, never seen this one, very intrested. thanks in advance
This response submitted by webster on 6/28/99. ( new@revised edition )
DORSAL of,pertaining to,or situated on the back
INCISION 1. a cut or gash 2. a cutting into, esp. for surgical purposes
put the two together and you have DORSAL INCISION, a cut situated on the back (a fishes back is on top). pretty easy huh!
hope this helped a little
This response submitted by George Roof on 6/28/99. ( georoof@aol.com )
Mike,
Sorry Webster wasn't smart enough to use the College Edition, but it was pretty self explanatory. I have never heard of this type incision on a fish, however. That would expose the incision to the "show side" and repair would have to be a bear.
I've used the ventral incision on "3-D" fish mounts since the belly is usually hidden and covering the seam is easier.
This response submitted by Don Frank on 6/29/99. ( )
A dorsal cut is a good way to go on many fish because you can get by with less seam area that has to be textured than a belly or side cut.Go ahead and cut off the spiny dorsal and soft dorsal before you start. From the front edge of the spiny dorsal to the head and from the rear of the soft dorsal to the tail is the only area that has to be re-scaled with epoxy. The fin butt areas of the spiny and dorsal that were cut off are very easy to hide. The other thing that I like about this over a ventral cut is that you are dealing with an area that has multiple layers of shading, highlighting, spotting and colors to help disquise your efforts of hiding the seam.Besides the actual scale texture on the very top of the fish is not nearly as distinct as what it is on the belly. If you add some color to your Sculptal (acrylic paint, Poly or Lifetone) it helps greatly. The closer you can get the dried epoxy to resemble the dried background color of the mounted fish, the easier it is to paint the fish. I think the dorsal cut is the only way to go on most species of fish. The only disadvantage is that if the seam ever cracks it will be in a more visable area. Good luck.
This response submitted by Travis on 6/29/99. ( )
I haven`t ever tried this but a couple of excellent fish taxidermist
gave me a few pointers on hiding the seam on a dorsal cut...take one of
your own fish and dry out the incision area real good...make a cast with
silicone and let dry...remove silicone and the scale impressions should
be there...fill seam with epoxie then apply silicone cast to epoxie.(wet)..
remove and presto...I`ve used the scaler but when ya get hard contors it`s
hard to get the scales to turn out right...I`m anxious to try it..good luck
This response submitted by Terry on 6/29/99. ( )
Mike,
A dorsal incision is an excellent way to do a pedestal fish mount,
and any skilled taxidermist, like Frank, knows how and when to use
it. Good luck with it but be wary of advice from people who have
never even heard of it. They are obviously novices.
This response submitted by Brett on 7/4/99. ( )
Again, another vote for the dorsal incision! This is a tremendous method for pedistal fish for all the reasons stated by Mr. Frank. I have found that leaving the spiney and soft dorsal on one side of the skin can also be very effective. Experiment with this method. I have also had good luck finding a "seam" on larger walleye down the top of their back where no scales are damaged in the initial cut. (this area is most obvious between back of skull and leading edge of spiney dorsal.
Good Luck!