Hi Milan

>I wonder how to extract soft parts from shells that were stored in ethanol.
>The problem is that pure ethanol hardens the tissue making it difficult to
>extract.
>
>The shells in question are thin-shelled limpets, about 1cm in size, kept in
>96% ethanol.

Ahh... as in deepsea vent "limpets"??

>Should I transfer my specimens into 50/50 glycerol/ethanol mixture for several
>weeks before trying to extract soft parts?
>
>I guess in such mixture tissue becomes softer and probably easier to pull out,
>but on the other hand soft parts will become prone to tearing and that could
>make extraction difficult.
>
>What about boiling the shells in water and removing the tissues soon after?

The problem with ethanol and other preservatives is that they
denature the proteins (formaldehyde moreso than ethanol). I doubt you
will be able to soften them so easily. No doubt these shells have
periostracum you want to retain (eg Lepetodrilus), so something like
pig (as in pork, grunt, ham, silk purse, pizza, squeal, sauerkraut)
pancreatin would be out (this stuff is really good for cleaning up
bones with dried flesh still clinging).

Basically what you need is something to loosen the collagen binding
the attachment muscle to the shell.

These shells are too fragile to hold in the hands and mechanically
separate the attachment with a needle or scalpel...

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