Skate Embryo Update + Lab Photos (Warning: Lots of Pics)

[Hypostomus]

Hello. I know at least one person asked for an update on the Raja erinacea embryo I shot a picture of for the gallery a while ago. I thought I would also share with you guys some other stuff in the lab at school, as it's pretty neat. At least I think so.. But first up, here's the little skate as of today, 3/24. The first photo was the first one I took on 2/25. I was told it was seven months through its gestation then, though now I'm not entirely sure. I'll check on it though. I would have taken more in-betweens but I was on Spring Break and doing test stuff. :)

2/25/04


3/24/04


Next up is a yellow tang that I'm doing a comparison study with (I'm comparing it with the little skate). This tang and several other saltwater and freshwater fish were donated by a local pet store- they had died en route. When I first looked at this guy I saw no signs of illness- it was still the very bright yellow color of a living tang. Here, it is being stained so that its organs will be visible. This is a shot of it with the stain on it..



And here is one where I held up the jar to the light so you can see the effects of the staining process so far. I adjusted the brightness and contrast on this picture so it's more noticeable, but so far you can just start to see the outlines of the bones and organs. When it's done it will be essentially as if the fish had see-through scales.




Lastly, our lab houses a lot of different critters. I don't know exactly what species this is or what it's doing there, but I really like this crab. It's the size of a small dinner plate. It lives in a tank with a continuous flow of water, so that's why the image looks a little warped here. The water is overflowing down the side of the tank into the touch pool below (where there are starfish, scallops, etc.).



Another picture of the crabby, this time from the side. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't just a lab pet. There's a few of those hanging around.



Hope you guys enjoyed these. Sorry if anyone looked at this who is grossed out by biology stuff (like staining dead yellow tangs).

[Allivymar]

Wow wow wow wow! How cool! I wanna come play with YOU hypo LOL you do some very cool stuff.

The pics are incredible, but the skate pics absolutely fascinate me. More!! Btw, I didn't realise skates hung onto the yolk sac for so long; learned me something new today *grin*

[Hypostomus]

Well technically the skate wouldn't have hatched now. I say "gestation" up there because normally it would still be inside its egg case. However, once they get to a certain period in their development they can be safely removed and developed into "hatchlings" without a need for an egg case (obviously this is only possible in a captive environment).

[QTOFFER]

Hypostomus, really, really, really cool pics!
I'm just surprised that you can H&E stain such a large specimen without having to perfuse it.

Hey, when I stroll around Jones Beach (on Long Island's Atlantic shore for all you non-LIers), I often find these blackish-brown, dry, leathery sacs. They are about 1 inch wide by 1-1/2 inches long and have long thin tails that extend from all four corners. Someone once told me that these are eggcases. Are they skate eggcases or something else?

[Hypostomus]

They sound like eggcases to me, but they aren't necessarily those of skates. You'd have to look up the cartilaginous fish around Long Island/lower New England. In the Bay of Fundy/Gulf of Maine area where my school is we have a few different varieties of skates and rays, as well as dogfish and a few other kinds of sharks. I imagine some of them can be found down there. Don't know for sure what specific egg cases those are though.

Guess that wasn't very helpful.

[fishfreek]

Great photos.

At first I saw the tang and I was like. WTH. A pink tang. Then I saw it was dyed.

[ohio reefer]

i think the crab is a stone crab (not sure of the species name ) but they are yummy

[Allivymar]

Ooo ooo! I know that one QT LOL I am going to fish school atm LOL (actually, I'm going thru the volunteer training at the Maritime Center in Norwalk, and its everything there can be found in the LI sound). Those egg cases are likely stingray or skates; yep, they can be found in the Sound (skates being most numerous)!

And strangely enough Hypo, at fish school today, the subject was jellies. The video we were shown had a brief section on an embryonic skate still in the egg case (they did a backlight thing to show it). How wierd. I've never seen one before, now 2 in two days.

Must be a sign