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Determination of age and growth in stream fishes of northern Borneo

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Synopsis

In mildly seasonal tropical climates, the pattern of marks on hard body parts of fishes may be difficult to interpret and unreliable for age determination. Many tropical fishes are now known to have annual peaks in spawning activity which are reflected in their length-frequency distributions. Although scales from freshwater stream fishes in the Baram River system of Sarawak, Malaysia revealed no clearly discernable pattern of annual marks, age classes could be identified from the length-frequency histograms with sufficient accuracy for production to be calculated. For management of the numerous and relatively unknown species present in rapidly developing tropical fisheries, serial quantitative samples at the same localities and inter-locality comparisons of length-frequency histograms may offer a fast and effective method of establishing the necessary age structures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, NIG, 2W1, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

    Dwight J. Watson & Eugene K. Balon

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  1. Dwight J. Watson
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  2. Eugene K. Balon
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Watson, D.J., Balon, E.K. Determination of age and growth in stream fishes of northern Borneo. Environ Biol Fish 13, 59–70 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00004856

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00004856

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