Cheryl,
            I have never processed otter teeth but I assume that the
cementum is
approximately the same as in most other animals and therfore has a high organic
content. As such it can be examined in regular H and Es on decalcified,
paraffin
processed sections as well as in ground sections.  The incremental lines in
cementum can best be show with Schmorl's picro-thionin or with overnight
staining in dilute hematoxylin.
Barry

Cheryl Crowder wrote:

> Russ - Some 20 years ago we hand ground otter teeth to check the cementum
> lines for age.  It was rather much like checking the lines in a tree for
> ago.  We also did this for nutria.  The sections were hand ground as I said
> and then the researchers took the sections and counted each of the lines.
> This had proven, at that time, the only reliable way to check the age of the
> animals and see how they were doing in the wild.  Cheryl

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