[dprUsh83]

I am browsing on eBay and I come across something that grossed me out, and then intrigued me. A medical school selling human skulls they are done with. So, obviously it is a huge :shock:, but the more I thought about it, the more I kind of thought it'd look kind of cool in a fish tank. :lol:

I'm curious, who would put this in their tank, given the opportunity. Remember, you'd have to boil it before you put it in the tank! :lol:

Link!

 

[joeshmoe]

eww y would u want that in your tank+who nos what they used on it. i would say hell no lol :lol: :lol: but i think u can buy fake ones a petsmart.

 

[JouteiMike]

I think that would look kind of cool. Especially with a bubble stone beneath it with a red light shooting up. Red bubbles coming out of the eyes. nose. and mouth muahahaha :twisted:

I have this model skull, pretty sure it's some kind of plastic, that I was really considering putting in my old 30G freshwater, but I decided not to. I wonder if a real skull would leach minerals into the aquarium.

 

[joeshmoe]

eww man i can see a fake skull but y a real one

 

[JouteiMike]

It's life size, and it looks more realistic. It's not that gross Joe...come on!

 

[girlofgod]

ima have to say, it must be a man thing...cuz that is disturbing...i can see the fake one...but come on, that USED TO BE SOMEBODY! LOL a real person...could you imagine having to explain THAT one to your friends when they were admiring your tank?..."hey, dude...cool skull you got there...almost looks real"....(enter you) "oh yeah? that's cuz it IS real..." ..(friends run screaming from your house never to return)

lol

 

[JouteiMike]

ima have to say, it must be a man thing...cuz that is disturbing...i can see the fake one...but come on, that USED TO BE SOMEBODY! LOL a real person...could you imagine having to explain THAT one to your friends when they were admiring your tank?..."hey, dude...cool skull you got there...almost looks real"....(enter you) "oh yeah? that's cuz it IS real..." ..(friends run screaming from your house never to return)

lol

NO WAY, instead of the friend running and screaming, mine would be like "dude no way, that is sick!!!!"

Hey if it were my skull I wouldn't mind being with the fishes in their tank. Beats being locked in a cabinet used for study, or inside a rotting body underground.

 

[girlofgod]

lol...well...girls would anyway...he'd have a hard time getting u know what after that! lol j/k

 

[love_my_fish]

ok, you guys are freaks...

hoever, what disturbs me more is the fact that the medical school is selling the skulls. Are these skulls that people "donated to science"? If so, it doesn't seem right that they sell these off to people for non science purposes. I don't think ending up in a fish tank would be the worst thing, but who is buying them and why??

 

[dprUsh83]

ok, you guys are freaks...

hoever, what disturbs me more is the fact that the medical school is selling the skulls. Are these skulls that people "donated to science"? If so, it doesn't seem right that they sell these off to people for non science purposes. I don't think ending up in a fish tank would be the worst thing, but who is buying them and why??

If you'll notice on the ebay listing it says "for medical purposes only", which will protect them from any legal problems and if it became an issue the person who purchased the skull would be in the negative I suppose.

For the record, I have no desire to buy it. :lol:


...I'd rather have my skull in a fish tank than a coffin, though! :twisted:

 

[JouteiMike]

I have a friend whose father is an Anthropologist and he's got skulls all over the house. Lots of times, skulls used for science are replicas of the real ones. I've seen him make a few casts of skulls out of real ones. The real skulls he has are VERY old and are extremely delicate so they are more for show and to display, not to be handled. So many medical schools don't use real ones to teach with; however, it is nice to have a few real ones, for autenticity, but the fake ones are just as useful and look pretty real.

Sorry about ranting on about nothing... :lol: But even through Ebay there's no way to tell if that's actually a real skull, unless you know a good deal yourself, or bring it to an Anthropologist.

There's nothing wrong with owning a skull, even if you're not using it for scientific purposes, in my opinion.

 

[joeshmoe]

theres nothing wrong with owen skulls unless you a freaken killer lol haha then its nuts

 

[SimplySplendid]

In a fish tank??

That would be...odd, to say the least. :?

 

[bettababy]

Ok, 2 points I haven't seen mentioned yet... first of all, how legal is it to buy or sell body parts? Most places I can imagine would have laws against that.
Beyond legal, is anyone here aware of what human bone consists of and the kinds of chemicals that are used in the medical schools? Bone, like it or not, will still decay, especially in water. As it decomposes, what is it doing to your water quality and the fish that rely on it?
The things to think about are the bone marrow that remains, any membranes that may be in tact over the bone itself... you're looking at heavy nitrate buildup, ammonia issues, which means nitrite as things are broken down, calcium content, phosphate, and many other issues due to the contents of bone substance. Think about this a sec... when a fish dies in the tank, is not removed... rots down to the bones, what happens to the bones if you don't take them out? Now, imagine what something the size of a human skull will turn into?
Besides finding this absolutely disgusting in nature, I'm sure it can't be legal, and would be very very dangerous to any animals in the tank.
Not everything that happens on Ebay is legal.

 

[dprUsh83]

Ok, 2 points I haven't seen mentioned yet... first of all, how legal is it to buy or sell body parts? Most places I can imagine would have laws against that.
Beyond legal, is anyone here aware of what human bone consists of and the kinds of chemicals that are used in the medical schools? Bone, like it or not, will still decay, especially in water. As it decomposes, what is it doing to your water quality and the fish that rely on it?
The things to think about are the bone marrow that remains, any membranes that may be in tact over the bone itself... you're looking at heavy nitrate buildup, ammonia issues, which means nitrite as things are broken down, calcium content, phosphate, and many other issues due to the contents of bone substance. Think about this a sec... when a fish dies in the tank, is not removed... rots down to the bones, what happens to the bones if you don't take them out? Now, imagine what something the size of a human skull will turn into?
Besides finding this absolutely disgusting in nature, I'm sure it can't be legal, and would be very very dangerous to any animals in the tank.
Not everything that happens on Ebay is legal.

So you wouldn't be interested in putting it in your tank, then?

 

[JouteiMike]

I don't think any of us were THAT serious about putting a real skull into our aquarium anyway, at least I hope not.

But it's perfectly legal to buy and sell skulls pretty much anywhere I believe, don't know about other kinds of body parts though.

http://www.bmezine.com/skulls/
http://www.skullsunlimited.com/

They sell real ones and replicas.

 

[bettababy]

I did some checking, and here in Wisconsin it is not legal. Simply because something is for sale online doesn't make it legal everywhere.
I am hoping nobody was serious about putting one into their tank, but I felt I should cover the bases of "why not" just in case anyone actually would consider it. That would not be a good idea for a fish tank.

 

[JouteiMike]

Not legal to buy skulls? Or do you mean any kind of human body part.

 

[bettababy]

Human body parts, overall, is not legal around here to sell or to buy. There is a huge fine you can be charged with if caught with one, and if caught selling one... there is even jail time.
This includes skulls!

 

[JouteiMike]

You must be able to obtain a license of some sort. Especially if you're studying Anthropology or just have an interest in collecting different types of skulls.