Melting Fish Flesh ?

[9murphy9]

This sounds bonkers but I really want to try and build my own fish skeleton ornaments out of real fish ... obviously I would get dead specimens and some how get rid of the fleshy bits & use modeling glue to stick the bones together but how could I get rid of the flesh ? I thought of maggots but I would much much prefer an alternative method so any ideas ??

Alex

 

[TallTree01]

Hide beetles maybe?

 

[stanleo]

This prolly wouldn't do it because the bones would be delicate but when I was a kid I found a dead dog in the woods that had been there a while. For a science project I soaked the bones in chlorine to get rid of the flesh and put the skeleton back together. You could try that and the boil the bones to get rid of the chlorine? like I said the bones of fish might be too delicate.

 

[9murphy9]

Thanks guys, ho2 bad was the smell as k don't want to stink the house out

 

[ian_m]

My Dad had a summer job at a place that made museum/school display skeletons.
 
1. Cut as much flesh off as possible leaving skeleton intact.
2. Wire together all the bones with wire pushed through the bones or around them so skeletons stays roughly intact so later you know what bone is connected to what bone.
3. Soak in concentrated sodium hydroxide for up to 6 months or until all flesh has dissolved. This is the smelly bit.
4. Wash and soak in bleach for "a while" to whiten the bones.
5. Wash, clean neutralise etc and dry.
6. Assemble and glue bones together on a nice presentation stand with a glass cover and charge a lot of money.
 
Easy....