Literature Cited 



BiGELOW. H. 3., AND W. C. SCHROEDER 



1953. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. Fish. Bull. 53:1- 

 577. 

 Dew. C B . and J H Hecht 



1976. Observations on the papulation dynamics of At- 

 lantic tomcod Microgadus tomcod in the Hudson River 

 estuary. Proc. Fourth Symposium On Hudson River 

 Ecology, Paper 25. Hudson River Environmental Soci- 

 ety, Bronx, N.Y. 

 Forney, J L 



1971. Development of dominant year classes in a yel- 

 low perch population. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 100:739- 

 749. 



GaRDINIER. M N , AND T B HOFF 



1982. Diet of striped bass in the Hudson River estuary. 

 New York Fish Game J. 29(2):152-165. 

 IVLEV, V S. 



1961. Experimental ecology of the feeding of fishes. 

 Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 302 p. 

 Leim. a H . AND W B Scott 



1966. Fishes of the Atlantic coast of Canada. Fish. Res. 

 Board Can. Bull. 155, 485 p. 

 Manooch, C S. 



1973. Food habits of yearling and adult striped bass, Mo- 

 rone saxatilis (Walbaum), from Albemarle Sound, North 

 Carolina. Chesapeake Sci. 14(2):73-86. 

 Massmann, W H 



1960. Additional records for new fishes in Chesapeake 

 Bay. Copeia 1960:1-70. 



Neave, F. 



1953. Principles affecting the size of pink and chum 



salmon populations in British Columbia. J. Fish. Res. 



Board Can. 9:450-491. 

 Norcross, J J , W H Massmann, and E. B. Joseph 



1961. Investigations of inner continental shelf waters off 

 lower Chesapeake Bay. Part II. Sand lance larvae, 

 Ammodytes americanus. Chesapeake Sci. 2(l-2):49- 

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Trent, L., and W. W. Hassler. 



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C. Braxton Dew 



Lawler, Matusky, and Skelly Engineers 



One Blue Hill Plaza 



Pearl River, NY 10965 



Present address; 



Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center Kodiak Laboratory 



National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 



P.O. Box 1638 



Kodiak, AK 99615 



ACCUMULATION OF AGE PIGMENTS 



(LIPOFUSCIN) IN 



TWO COLD-WATER FISHES 



In fisheries management, age structured models 

 are the preferred method for meeting the key ob- 

 jectives of estimating optimal yields and deter- 

 mining the effect of fishing on stock structure 

 (Gulland 1978). However, fev^^ species of commer- 

 cial marine fishes exist in which age can be deter- 

 mined with certainty (Boehlert 1985). The con- 

 centration of age pigments (lipofuscin) 

 (Ettershank 1984) in fish tissues (Agius and 

 Agbede 1984) may be a measure of fish age that 

 could be used to validate other ageing techniques 

 and might also improve estimates of age of long- 

 lived species where other techniques are difficult 

 to apply. 



Lipofuscin originates in biological membranes 

 through lipid peroxidation (Tappel 1975). Lipo- 

 fuscin accumulation has been documented for a 

 wide variety of animals, from mammals to the 

 bread-mold Neurospora (Ettershank et al. 1983 

 and references therein). The rate of accumulation 

 has been shown to be constant during the lifetime 

 of laboratory-raised mice (Reichel 1968; Miquel et 

 al. 1978), dogs (Munnell and Getty 1968), fiesh- 

 flies (Ettershank et al. 1983); man (Strehler et al. 

 1959); and also wild populations of mice (Dapson 

 et al. 1980). On the other hand, the rate of lipofus- 

 cin accumulation has been shown to vary with 

 level of activity and lifespan (Sohal and Donato 

 1978). It is expected that the rate in which lipo- 

 fuscin accumulates with age in a natural popula- 

 tion of fishes, or stock, with its free genetic inter- 

 change and likely common habitat, would be 

 fairly uniform (but see Smith 1987). In addition, 

 if measurements are made in nonmitotic and 

 constantly metabolizing tissues such as brain 

 or myocardium, the variation in concentra- 

 tion due to environmental effects is least like- 



ly. 



In this paper we present the results of a prelim- 

 inary study designed to assess the usefulness 

 of extracted lipofuscin as a method of ageing 

 fishes. Two species of cold-water fishes are in- 

 cluded: the rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri, 

 reared in captivity, and of known age; and the 

 Dover sole. Microstomas pacificus, a long-lived 

 fish, in which age is not known with certain- 

 ty. We present spectral characteristics of the ex- 

 tracted lipofuscin from several tissues and the 

 change in concentration of lipofuscin with fish 

 age. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 86, NO. 2 



401 



