Relic fish.... 27 year old Black Drum

[Chitlin]

So this beast washed up on the beach just after new years and after seeing it for a few weeks I decided to get the otoliths out. Otoliths are the ear bones and are an effective way of ageing a fish, much like a tree. The darker rings indicate winter (periods of slower growth)... anyway, I waited to long to see any kind of reproductive material that I could say was male or female, it was pretty rancid by the time I was bored enough to do what I did... The shovel 44 inches long and is my MD'ing shovel to put the fish size in perspective.

Took the bones to the local DNR and they sectioned one of them with the consensus of 27 years old.. pretty dang long for a fish to be swimming around unscathed by man or other predator....

RIP

 

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[Chitlin]

It always amazes me as to what people find interesting and what they don't.

I wonder if my screen name were dirtyblndbeachgirl, and my avatar was of one the cuties from the local surf shop, how many responses this would get.....

17 pages......

 

[StormSurge]

It always amazes me as to what people find interesting and what they don't.

I wonder if my screen name were dirtyblndbeachgirl, and my avatar was of one the cuties from the local surf shop, how many responses this would get.....

17 pages......

You noticed that too ... fallin' all over themselves.

Black Drum you say ... Humm, I've seen better but let's eat it.

 

[Dave44]

It always amazes me as to what people find interesting and what they don't.

I wonder if my screen name were dirtyblndbeachgirl, and my avatar was of one the cuties from the local surf shop, how many responses this would get.....

17 pages......

Dirty blonde you say? Where is the pic?

 

[CoilyGirl]

That's pretty cool albeit ugly Chitlin. I could never have taken that stank though.

 

[Dave44]

That's pretty cool albeit ugly Chitlin. I could never have taken that stank though.

That just ain't right.

 

[worldtalker]

That's pretty cool albeit ugly Chitlin. I could never have taken that stank though.

It surely had a stink that stunk..I thunk? I know it did...after the Blue Back Herring here spawn,there's a stink a stank and a stunk!

 

[worldtalker]

It surely had a stink that stunk..I thunk? I know it did...after the Blue Back Herring here spawn,there's a stink a stank and a stunk!

I take that back,Shad fish...they still stink,stank,stunk.

 

[Nitric]

Cool! I just learned something today! I never knew there was a bone that told how old a fish was that had rings like a tree!

And what are you talking about?? Your a doll! You might need to find your body though!

Well,Keep your head up! It takes us time to see the post sometimes!

Ok, Ok, I'll quit with the horrible jokes! I don't want to HEAD down that path!

 

[Chitlin]

Sure is...scales can be read too but the otoliths are the bomb. They are mirror images of each other and sit in a cavity behind the eye's, above the gills. Check the photo with the smoother side with the "tadpole shape"... the tadpoles face each other on the inside with the "tail" pointing down. Left side and right side...

Here is a Spotted Sea Trout one I took before the days of PC's... wish I had kept more of these. Trout are spawned in spring and early summer so they have a few months to grow before the first winter (the distance from the center to the first ring), dark winter line then summer and so on