Long Nose Gar Tips ???

if they wont go for the skulls you can try maceration, in the archives theres a million posts on it, tutorials, and pictures of everyones set ups

 

I have a large alligator gar head that I macerated. Much of the skull was cartilage and I now have a formidable pile of bones that are completely unrecognizable to me (I have no experience with fish). It's sitting in a box while I continue to muster the ambition to tackle the reassembly project.

I *think* I remember reading on here about someone preparing a shark by gradually pouring scalding water over it and manually scraping away flesh, and actually retaining all the cartilage, but I'm uncertain without doing a search.

 

I was told that some one was successful using oxidation method in cleaning one.now i dont know if it was true.but the photo showed a complete gar skull,it was yellow due to him not degreasing which i think you can do and still be successfull.also has any one tried cold water maceration/ alcohol? If you have a few skulls.submerge half using one method wile the other is still intact will help keep things together if the other side goes to crap plus you will have the side as reference. Good luck.

 

I second what Nina is saying. You can finish with acetone and if you want to whiten a method I have used on delicate skulls is to place it into a vented plastic container that has a cover wrap the skull in a good quality paper towels then carefully place the skull in the Plastic container. saturate the towel with 27% peroxide add maybe 1/4" to replenish any that may evaporate. Check it every day or so to see if it's gotten white enough.