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1. keep your collection in pristine condition

Dear Collectors,

As your collection of recent urchins continues to grow, and with the ever increasing interest and availability of specimens of worldwide sea urchins, I am letting you know some helpful advice that will help to keep your collection in pristine condition, so that you will be able to enjoy your collection for many years to come without having to worry about the upkeep, with complete peace of mind. Nobody wants to spend years pursuing beautiful urchin specimens to find out a few months after you acquire them, that mould and fungus has grown on the specimens. Spines start to fall off, the collection starts to smell, and worst of all, fungus spreads to other specimens (and it will spread fast). Will a few simple precautions, such a devastating experience can easily be prevented:

1. When you receive a dredged specimen with the spines still attached, it is a good idea to soak it in ethanol for a minute or so to kill the bugs that may have started to grow on the surface of the specimen while being transported from another country. Many urchins are found in the tropics and are packed in tropical weather conditions, so there is a tendency for moisture to remain on the specimen in transit. After ethanol treatment, dry the specimen out in dry sunlight if possible, then store it in an environment of low humidity (60% humidity is good). Most specimens will not lose their natural colours when you treat them.

2. Consider purchasing a good dehumidifier if you live in a humid part of the world. You will never need to worry about how much water is in the atmosphere that may be causing deterioration of your valuable specimens. You will be surprised how much water can be extracted from the atmosphere inside your house.

3. Try to store your collection in a room where moist air from cooking or the bathroom is not close. If this is not possible, close the door of the collection room when the air inside the house is higher in moisture due to those activities. Consider housing your collection upstairs, not in a basement.

4. Very precious specimens that are irreplaceable should be stored in airtight containers with self-indicating silica gel. Self indicating silica gel is a powerful desiccant that can be re-used forever. The colour of the crystals is pink when the crystals have absorbed moisture, blue when they have not. Pink crystals can be re-activated to blue in a normal conventional oven. Silica gel is available from laboratory supply companies worldwide.

5. Try to avoid storing large quantities of urchins in drawers or areas where there is poor air circulation. If you do, put a small container of silica gel in each drawer and monitor it every few days to make sure the silica gel is still active (blue). Reheat the silica gel when the colour has turned pink. The frequency will depend on how humid it is where you live.

6. If your preference is for "natural" specimens without spines, ie unbleached, (for example, a dead heart urchin test ), be aware that the test still has sea salt within the porous stereom network of the test. You should rinse the specimens in fresh water, preferably luke warm, and preferably overnight, to allow the salt to dissipate out of the stereom network. You may have even noticed that some of the urchins in your collection that you have in their natural state seem to look wet when it rains. This is because the increased humidity in the atmosphere readily becomes attracted to the salt still present in the stereom network in the urchin.

7. If you prefer to bleach your urchins, this is actually a good way to help prevent deterioration. Bleach destroys all organic tissues and providing the specimen is rinsed well after cleaning, you will never have to worry about fungus as long as there are no small pieces remaining in hard to get areas inside the test. Bleach will not remove the natural colours of the test from regular urchins, but it will bleach nearly all irregular species to white.

8. These preventative measures have been tested and proven through many years of collecting and experimenting by Ashley Miskelly, author of the book "Sea Urchins of Australia and the Indo-Pacific". He has been able to maintain one of the most beautiful collections of worldwide sea urchins for nearly 20 years using these methods. Ashley can be contacted through this website for further advice if needed.

Source : Ashley Miskelly, july 2005