Portuguese fish!

A few weeks ago I attended the 4th IAFSB (Interdisciplinary Approaches in Fish Skeletal Biology) meeting in Tavira, Portugal. I had a fantastic time there with great science and great people, and it came as a very nice surprise to see so many shark people there.

A few of us also took the opportunity to go to the local fish market see if we could find some cool fish to take home, which was really funny because for once I was not the only weirdo looking for heads or strange species. We saw loads of black and silver scabbardfishes and really wish I had gotten some of these, but I was already loaded with the cartilaginous stuff. Here's a few pictures of the specimens I brought back.

Torpedo sp. and Mustelus mustelus (? could be M. asterias, not quite sure on this one).

The torpedo skull on the left is very damaged: the fishermen cut through the jaws, one hyomandibular, and they also damaged the nose area (the antorbital cartilages are entirely missing). I still took it since it's the first time I come across torpedoes and it should still be useful as a practice specimen since I'm not very familiar with their skeletal anatomy.

 Couple of skates. The big one on the left is Raja microocelata and still have to ID the two smaller ones, probably Leucoraja something.

 

Unidentified torpedo head (T. marmorata or T. torpedo) and whole T. torpedo. 

The head is either from T. marmorata or T. torpedo. The first specimen had already been skinned and cut in pieces so ID is difficult, and they had both species at the market. The atlantic torpedo (Tetronarce nobiliana) is also present in the area, but this species is much bigger and usually found at greater depths. The complete specimen should make a very cool skeleton, unfortunately the pelvic fins are a little damaged.

Dissection time!

Photo: Callie Crawford

Since none of us planned to be working on fresh specimens we had to improvise a bit. I had to buy several kilos of salt to prep them for the return trip. The other guys used some kind of cheap vodka and big plastic jars for their stuff. Wish I had a picture of this since it was quite funny. But the best part was trying to dissect fish using a table knife and nail clipper. Not the easiest way to do it!

Busted torpedo skull close up.

Photo: Callie Crawford

Everything is now safely stored in the freezer. I'll post WIP pictures here as I get around working on them.