Precision of aging structures for Indian major carp,Cirrhinus mrigala, from the River Ganga

Abstract

Scales, opercular bones, otoliths, vertebrae, and dorsal fin rays were compared to ascertain the best aging structure of Cirrhinus mrigala. All structures showed alternating opaque and translucent bands that were interpreted as annuli; however, structures differed greatly in the clarity of their presumed annual marks. Age estimates were compared by calculating the percentage of agreement (PA), average percentage of error (APE), and coefficient of variation (CV) and by constructing age bias plots. Age estimates were evaluated between readers and between the pairs of aging structures. Among all structures, scales showed the clearest annual rings and had highest (94.6%) PA between readers, followed by opercular bones (88.6%), otoliths (83.9%), vertebrae (79.9%), and dorsal fin rays (62.4%). Due to highest PA and lower minimal aging error, the scales were considered the most reliable bony structure for aging C. mrigala. When scale ages were compared with those of the other structures, the highest PA and lowest APE and CV values were found between scale and opercular bone estimates. Mean values of age estimate from scales were comparable ( p40.05) to the values obtained from opercular bones, otoliths, and vertebrae and were significantly ( p50.05) different with the dorsal fin ray age estimates. Scales were the most suitable structures for age estimation in C. mrigala.

Precision and Bias of Three Bigmouth Buffalo Aging Structures

“…2012; Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix : CV = 15%, Khan et al. 2015; Largemouth Bass: CV ≤ 22%, Tyszko and Pritt 2017; Lake Sturgeon: CV = 12–18%, Izzo et al. 2021; Blue Sucker: CV = 12%, Radford et al.…”

Evaluation of ageing precision from different structures of three threatened freshwater fish species,Clarias batrachus,Heteropneustes fossilisand Wallago attu

“…The time required to process and read vertebrae made them less practical to use but that precision and accuracy involved with vertebrae made them the best among the three structures (vertebrae, otoliths, and scales) for the age estimation of Oncorhynchus keta (Clark 1987). Researchers have reported that rings present on vertebral centra were not very clear and showed numerous minute marks unrelated to cyclic events in fishes such as Makaira nigricans (Hill et al 1989), Boops boops (Khemiri et al 2005) and Cirrhinus mrigala (Khan et al 2011a).…”

Relative Age and Growth of Indian Major Carp, <i>Cirrhinus mrigala</i>, from Peninsular Rivers of India

“…The use of scales moved rapidly from discovery to application during the first quarter of the last century (Lee, 1920;Carlander, 1987). Several studies on scales for age and growth determination of Indian fishes have been undertaken (Kagwade, 1971;Hanumantha Rao, 1974;Singh and Sharma, 1995;Deepak et al, 2008;Khan, 2009 andKhan et al, 2011).…”