[Histonet] Invertebrates in Sediment

[Monfils, Paul]

Rose bengal is widely used in sediment studies in both fresh and salt water
because it brightly stains just about any organic matter without staining
inorganic matter.  The exact concentration isn't critical.  One common
method is to dissolve 5 grams of rose bengal in 100 ml commercial
formaldehyde solution saturated with sodium borate.  This is easy to carry
in the field, and is used by adding one part of this solution to 9 parts of
sediment sample, which results in a 10% buffered formalin solution
containing 0.5 % rose bengal.  Of course the sample can simply be fixed in
the field, and the dye added after returning to the lab. The following sites
may help:

http://www.eman-rese.ca/eman/ecotools/protocols/freshwater/benthics/sample.h
tml

http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/nefsc/publications/tm/tm167/tm167p6.htm