Comparison of the cleaning methods for the preparation of brachyuran crabs for scanning electron microscopy | ||
| Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries | ||
| Article 59, Volume 25, Issue 1, January and February 2021, Pages 1031-1039 PDF (813.8 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejabf.2021.155120 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Marwa Osman; Wafaa Sallam; Fedekar Madkour | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The study presents a comparison of the techniques used by researchers for cleaning carapaces of brachyuran crabs for SEM preparation. The methods were applied on the heavily encrusted spider crabs inhabiting the Suez Canal; Hyastenus hilgendorfi and Schizophrys dahlak. The techniques were judged for their effectiveness in the elimination of the different fouling materials such as mucus, detritus, and epibionts. In addition, a step for the removal of large epibionts was introduced to the cleaning protocol and tested for efficiency. Crabs’ integuments were prepared according to the two methods and SEM micrographs were taken. The study ranked one method as more effective and showed that the suggested cleaning step was quite destructive to the setal types present on the crabs’ integuments. Recommendations for the best cleaning steps for heavily fouled crabs are given. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Cleaning methods; Brachyuran crabs; fouling; SEM | ||
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