Does any one know how best I can preserve cercariae from fresh water gastropods, until they are fully identified?
Dear Obiora,
Cercariae can be preserved in 70% Alcohol or 4% Formalin, reference is attached in pdf.
Best wishes,
P
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2770516/
The reference given by Prakash Pradhan is useful if you are planning molecular analysis or general microscopy. Other fixatives such as AFA (alcohol-formalin-acetic acid) or Bouin's may be good for some species to demonstrate microscopic features, depending on which structures you wish to preserve. Features such as protonephridial patterns are best seen in living specimens.
It is useful to make photos of your object if your goal is species detection and morphometry
If you have the option of doing DNA analysis, consider 95% ethyl alcohol.
Thanks for your answers and suggestions which I find very useful. There are about 336 schistosomiasis endemic foci in my country, and I would appreciate any collaborative effort in cercarial identification, DNA and otherwise.
OOI.
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