Hello all,

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.
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?

Any suggestion?

Milan


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