age and growth

Accurate and precise age estimates are required to correctly estimate fish population metrics such as age, growth, mortality, and recruitment. Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are commonly aged using the lapilli otolith or the articular process of the pectoral spine. Many fisheries managers prefer to use pectoral spines because the process does not require the sacrifice of the fish, but this method may produce biased age estimates. To com- pare precision of the two methods, we used pectoral spines and lapilli otoliths to age 649 channel catfish collected from five...

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) began the ShareLunker program (currently sponsored by Toyota) in 1986 to promote public involvement in the management of trophy largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides; LMB) fisheries in Texas. The program provides anglers an opportunity to donate trophy LMB (≥ 5.9 kg) to a selective breeding and stocking program managed by TPWD, with the goal of increasing the production of trophy-sized fish in Texas reservoirs. Although the program was known to be successful at promoting trophy LMB fishing in Texas, it was not known whether selective breeding...

The objectives of this study were to quantify ageing precision for largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and spotted bass (M. punctulatus), and to evaluate the effect of ageing errors on the estimation of common fisheries metrics. Sagittal otoliths were extracted from 2164 largemouth bass and 738 spotted bass collected from throughout the Arkansas River, Arkansas. Largemouth bass collections occurred during 2004, 2005, and 2010; spotted bass collections were limited to 2004 and 2005. Annuli were counted by two independent readers from digital images of each whole otolith. For individuals...