A few months ago, my son-in-law brought this big boy home specifically for the biology students. I wrapped him (the shark, that is) in plastic, and tossed him in the freezer to save for Lab 17, Chapter 19: Bony and Cartilaginous Fish.
Imagine Dear Husband's joy when I began defrosting last night.
This bull was not going to fit into the 5 gallon bucket I had originally chosen for an all night soak.
DH did not appreciate my second brilliant idea:
The MASTER BATH, of course!
It made perfect sense to me.
Am I the only one who thinks he was being totally unreasonable?
Apparently so.
Plan C:
A makeshift garden tub fit for a bull shark, kept safely in the garage (away from the cat, raccoons, and other neighborhood critters).
He re-hydrated beautifully.
Say Cheese!
The girls were totally into it. The boys, not so much. Go figure.
Miss Pre-Med was in town for Spring Break. She skipped a trip to Pensacola with her friends in order to hang with the family, and lead our Biology lab. That's my girl!
.
But the future paramedic found a lesion. It was pretty disgusting and we lost a student or two, maybe three......
to nausea at this point.
So we moved on to the circulatory system.
If you would like a copy of the dissection guide and post-lab questions that we used, follow this link.
If you would prefer a virtual shark dissection to the real deal, follow this link.
Overall, it was an educational experience they will not forget. Dear Husband, on the other hand, would probably like to forget it. He's waiting for us to get back to a focus on history and literature. No more surprises in the freezer (or bathtub) would be just fine with him. And isn't it appropriate that this lab date fell on the first Friday in Lent. Luckily it did not deter anyone from enjoying the fish fry dinner this evening.