636 
Fishery Bulletin 99(4) 
Figure 5 
Right sectioned (A) and whole (B) otolith from a female summer flounder, 10 years old 
(determined from sectioned otoliths) and 758 mm TL, collected in November. Arrows on 
the sectioned otolith indicate presumed annual marks. On the whole otolith, arrows indi- 
cate primary counting path (anterior field), dots indicate secondary counting path (posterior 
field). Ten marks are visible in the posterior field of the whole otolith, but only eight marks 
are visible in the anterior field. 
Table 4 
Regression statistics for relationships between the number 
of marks (Marks) and calcified structure size for summer 
flounder. Structure abbreviations are defined in the “Meth- 
ods” section of the text, n = sample size. All regressions 
were significant at P < 0.001. 
Structure 
Equation 
n 
100) 
Scales 
Marks = 
-2.64 + 
1.080 ScRL 
80 
73 
Sectioned otoliths 
Right 
Marks = 
-3.39 + 
5.424 SORL 
65 
80 
Left 
Marks = 
-3.36 + 
6.996 SORL 
46 
67 
Whole otoliths 
Right 
Marks = 
-4.56 + 
1.664 RWOR 
75 
85 
Left 
Marks = 
-4.47 + 
1.367 LWOR 
76 
86 
Right 
Marks = 
-4.80 + 
0.919 RWOT 
75 
86 
Left 
Marks = 
-4.80 + 
0.934 LWOT 
76 
82 
mation in temperate fishes (Smith et al., 1981), and 4) a 
narrow opaque zone as compared to the translucent zone 
(Smith et al., 1981). We address these issues in turn below. 
Table 5 
Regression statistics for relationships between the number 
of marks (Marks) on calcified structures and summer 
flounder total length (TL). All regressions were significant 
at P < 0.001, and sample sizes were 80 fish. 
Structure 
Equation 
100 r 2 
Scales 
Marks = -3.69 + 0.0151 TL 
83 
Sectioned otoliths 
Marks = -3.86 + 0.0155 TL 
85 
Whole otoliths 
Marks = -3.90 + 0.0157 TL 
86 
We rarely observed poor calcification or poor contrast 
between opaque and translucent zones of whole otoliths. 
Rather, our procedures gave good contrast between opaque 
and translucent zones, so that we had high confidence in 
our age readings. In addition, we found only one otolith of 
81 pairs to be poorly calcified. This otolith was easily aged 
once it was sectioned, and its pair was not poorly calcified 
and was aged with high confidence. 
We saw little evidence that the first mark becomes ob- 
scured at older ages on whole otoliths, as indicated by 
our high agreement between whole and sectioned otoliths. 
The hypothesis that the first mark becomes obscured was 
