Aging a Fish

[Anubias]

A friend of mine....told me that if I count the rings on the scale of my fish & it will tell me my goldfish age???? Is This True?? Very Curious

 

[molliwopp]

I dont actually know but my gut says no its not a clear indication.

 

[jlk]

Believe it or not, there is some truth to this. True scaled fish can be aged according to their scale rings (called 'annuli')- the same way you can count the rings of a tree. Not all fish have scales though and not all fish have 'true' scales. This method of determining age is a common practice with wild-caught fish but I do not how much of this can applied to the genetically manipulated fish that typically reside in our tanks. The caveat is you need some fancy equipment to plane multiple scale samples and a good microscope. Heres some pics with more info:

Determining Age

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/4h/4h02600.pdf

 

[molliwopp]

Believe it or not, there is some truth to this. True scaled fish can be aged according to their scale rings (called 'annuli')- the same way you can count the rings of a tree. Not all fish have scales though and not all fish have 'true' scales. This method of determining age is a common practice with wild-caught fish but I do not how much of this can applied to the genetically manipulated fish that typically reside in our tanks. The caveat is you need some fancy equipment to plane multiple scale samples and a good microscope. Heres some pics with more info:

Determining Age

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/4h/4h02600.pdf

Interesting to know.