Comparison of Five Calcified Structures for Estimating the Age of Bream Abramis brama (L.) from the Irtysh River in China

作者：Zhiming Zhang, Ding Hui-ping, Xie Cong-xin · 发表于：Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS Institutional Repository · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.4194/1303-2712-v18_7_02 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Isotope Analysis in Ecology、Fish Biology and Ecology Studies、Fish Ecology and Management Studies

We compared five calcified structures (scale, otolith, vertebra, cleithrum, and opercular bone) for estimating the age of bream Abramis brama (L.) from the Irtysh River in China. Otoliths consistently had the clearest marks, highest confidence scores, highest between-reader agreement (91.63%), and lowest CVs. Cleithra provided the second-highest between-reader agreement (88.65%) and highest agreement (66.08%) with otoliths. Scales and vertebrae yielded equivalent age estimates that were lower than those from otoliths and cleithra, but the estimates of A. brama older than 11 years were consistently underestimated using scales and vertebrae. Opercular bone was inferior to other structures for aging A. brama. Opercular bones resulted in the lowest between-reader agreement (84.68%), lowest agreement with otoliths (62.33%), and highest CVs. According to these findings, we recommend the use of ground otoliths for estimating the age of A. brama when an accurate age structure assessment is required, and recommend scales if a nonlethal procedure is needed for age estimation in order to analyze simple population metrics of A. brama.