The effect of subjective fish scale ageing on growth and recruitment analyses: a case study from the UK

Re-ageing of scales sampled in 1985 from the population of roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.), of the River Stour, England, revealed a high degree of subjectivity in their ageing, resulting from contrasting interpretations of similar scale features between practitioners. Compared with ages attained in 1985, re-ageing of the scales in 2004 only found agree- ment >80% at ages 1, 2, and 4 years. By age 9, agreement had dropped to 6%. The re-ageing revealed the presence of year classes that had previously been thought to have already died out and suggested their recruitment strength was asso- ciated with water temperatures in the first year of life of cohorts.