Prior to permanent alteration of a specimen for purposes of dissection, clearing and staining, or tissue sampling, you must obtain written permission from the Collection Manager. Confirmation of species identification is strongly recommended before destructive use of a specimen.
You may include a destructive analysis request as part of your initial loan request or you can request a destructive analysis addendum to an existing loan. In both circumstances you must submit your request via email to the Division of Fishes Collection Manager. Please include the following in your request:
A brief description of your project
Justification for the use of USNM specimens
Some indication that the technique applied or sample taken is indeed appropriate to the question being asked.
We will consider tissue sampling requests from specimen vouchers provided the requestor provides sufficient justification for the request and shows prior success with extracting DNA from "antique" ethanol preserved specimens or from formalin fixed specimens. For approved requests, Division of Fishes staff will remove tissue plugs from the specimens per the agreed protocol.
