Dissection II

Another successful day of dissection - this time we cut open earthworms, squid, and crayfish. The crayfish and squid were preserved (read: smelled awful!) but the earthworms were fresh (read: alive). Yes, you are reading that correctly, we did NOT kill our worms before cutting them open so we could watch their (five) hearts beat. We did, however, anesthetize them in a beaker of 40% ethanaol (don't do this at home, by anesthetize I really mean kill slowly while it thrashes around).



It was actually really interesting and I can't wait for the sharks (our first vertebrates) we do this Saturday. If you're a curious and strong stomached type, you can follow along with the dissections on a special Flickr group Audra and I set up. We tag the anatomical structures on the photos as well (good practice for the lab practical exam in April) so you'll have some clue as to what you're looking at.

Something I've learned: A screed is a long, monotonous speech or piece of writing. I've also learned a lot lately on cognitive enhancement and preventing memory deterioration but that's a whole other post (or screed perhaps?).