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<br />can occur. For that reason when taking whole fish specimens, a cut was made into the right side <br />of the body cavity, slightly above and behind the pectoral fin. This allowed alcohol to enter the <br />body cavity immediately upon immersion in 70% ETOH. The location of the slit also reduces <br />damage to mid-ventral characters on the specimens if future meristic and morphological <br />measurements are taken. <br /> <br />6. All whole, alcohol preserved specimens from a sampling station were placed together in a <br />single container. All fin clips were kept in separate individual containers (one container per fin <br />clip). The alcohol was changed completely approximately 12 hours after initial preservation. <br />Water will leach out of the tissues and dilute the alcohol concentration. This can lead to tissue <br />degradation. By changing the alcohol completely, the final concentration is maintained near <br />70% to insure that the alcohol content was high enough to adequately preserve the fish. <br /> <br />7. Labels were placed directly into the container with the fish. We used high rag content <br />paper (high quality bond paper) for the labels. Standard notebook and copier paper tend to <br />dissolve in alcohol or water. We used a soft lead pencil to write the label, since inks are often <br />water and alcohol soluble. Vials offin clips were either separately labeled, or all vials were <br />placed in a single bag with a single label. <br /> <br />8. The label contained the following information. <br /> <br />Collector( s): <br />Date: <br />Stream: <br />County: <br />State: <br />Drainage: <br />Number of specimens in container: <br />Other identifying data: (including species and numbers of each, detailed site information) <br /> <br />9. The specimens were stored in a cool location (e.g. under waders and equipment in the <br />back of the vehicle) until we returned to BYU. They were kept out of both heat and sunlight. In <br />some cases the alcohol was changed again to help insure proper preservation. <br /> <br />Frozen samples - whole fish <br /> <br />The fish were immediately frozen on dry ice and maintained at that temperature until they were <br />placed in a freezer at -200 C or an ultracold at -950 C in our labs. <br /> <br />We used the following procedure in field collecting. <br /> <br />1. We placed about 4 kg of dry ice in a cooler prior to going into the field to collect. The <br />cooler was lined with teny cloth to fill voids around the dry ice. Newspaper or paper towels can <br />also be used for this purpose. <br /> <br />2. Whole fish that were frozen in the field were between 4 and about 45 cm in length. As <br /> <br />3 <br />