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Fish scales and growth
Name: Belinda Clark
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
In my daughter's book about fish, it states that fish continue
to get bigger as they age and that you can tell how old a fish is by
counting the rings on its scales. Does this mean that a fish is born
with all of its scales and as the fish grows, the scales also grow to
cover the fish?
Replies:
According to my fish expert, fish will not normally lose scales
unless injured. They do have growth rings just like trees, and from this
age can be determined. However, to get very accurate ages, one must do
laboratory experiments to correlate the rings with age. In addition, if
a scale is lost, it will grow back all at one time, and not exhibit any
growth rings until the next growth season. From then on, it will add
rings at the same rate as the other scales. Females may not add growth
rings when they are reproducing, as all their energy is used in egg
production. To further confuse things, some females will grow, stop
while reproducing, then grow some more, and this will cause one growth
season to look like two rings. This is why the laboratory experiments
are needed.
Stacie, with help from fish expert Chris.
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Update: June 2012
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