The staining of fish otoliths for age determination

Attempts were made to find methods for the staining of fish otoliths which would give results comparable to those of the Christensen burning technique. A variety of different histological stains and otoliths of different species were experimented with. Otoliths of sole, turbot, brill and scad gave b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Fish Biology
Main Authors: Richter, H., McDermott, J. G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1990
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1990.tb04331.x
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.1990.tb04331.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1990.tb04331.x
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Summary:Attempts were made to find methods for the staining of fish otoliths which would give results comparable to those of the Christensen burning technique. A variety of different histological stains and otoliths of different species were experimented with. Otoliths of sole, turbot, brill and scad gave best results when sectioned and stained in acidified Neutral Red, whereas those of cod, hake, whiting, plaice and grey mullet showed up the annuli better when dyed in aqueous Aniline Blue or Toluidine Blue and then sectioned. Small, translucent otoliths such as those of pelagic species may be enhanced by staining in Eosin Y.