Lake Erie Fish Ageing Project

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate fish ageing techniques. Using the crack and burn method, otoliths were “flamed” using a zippo lighter carefully with the blue part of the flame lower to the chimney to avoid scorching and soot. A clean burning fuel is needed to avoid charring and soot. Alcohol did not burn long enough and a standard lighter flame or orange flame had poor results. The otoliths were then embedded in Crayola modeling clay and submerged in canola oil.

Then viewed and photographed using a stereo microscope.

Scales were viewed and photographed using a stereo microscope.

Counting the annuli on both the scales and otoliths, the age of the fish can then be determined.

Project can be found here;

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/lake-erie-fish-ageing-project

Please feel free to leave a comment on what age you think these fish could be.
All scales and otoliths were collected with guidance and permission under MNRF guidance.

Anotado por bert_raccoon, 07 de marzo de 2021 a las 07:52 PM