nikhil.io

I went back to the American Museum of Natural History after about 8 years. I plan on going back as frequently as I can (it’s free with my student ID!) This might have been the best thing I saw and learned on my last trip.

Even ichthyologists cannot always identify a fish species just by looking at it from the outside. So they use a technique that makes flesh transparent, which lets them see the fish’s internal anatomy without cutting it open.

Clearing and staining can help scientists distinguish similar species, determine evolutionary relationships-and even see whether a male seahorse is carrying eggs! Before CT scans were available, clearing and staining was the best way to see inside an intact specimen, and the process is still widely used today.