Fish scales close up

4n6fisher · Post by **4n6fisher** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 3:32 pm

I thought these images might be interesting. When I was done fishing out of Ilwaco the biologist came over to take a scale sample and a fin piece from the chinook I caught, unfortunately I was dealing with something else, but my fishing mates said she was collecting the scale because they could look at the growth rings, similar to a tree and determine the age of the fish and DNA testing. You can see the difference of the inner rings (fresh water lifetime) and the outer rings in saltwater. I do not know how much time it takes for each ring to form, looked like maybe about three weeks if this was a 3 year old fish. If anyone know pass on the info.

Last night cooking up a piece of coho (I will get the chinook uploaded next time I pull one out) I collected a scale. I brought the scale to the lab today and put it in the Electron Microscope to collect a couple images. I also did a chemical composition, mainly calcium, phosphorus, carbon and oxygen.

fishinChristian · Post by **fishinChristian** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:29 am

You're right, interesting. Thanks! Most of us don't have electron microscopes in our tackle boxes...

4n6fisher · Post by **4n6fisher** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:37 am

It does not quite fit in the tackle box, but it sure makes normal most things look way more interesting. I will clean things up better next time to give a cleaner image. I might have to start looking at other items from fish that look interesting. I have gotten some good image of microbes in the past.

fishinChristian · Post by **fishinChristian** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:51 pm

What about some parasites of fish? They ought to be interesting.

obryan214 · Post by **obryan214** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:12 pm

fishinChristian wrote:What about some parasites of fish? They ought to be interesting.

they are indeed. i've seen them at the lab belonging to the NWIFC.

4n6fisher · Post by **4n6fisher** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:15 am

Anything biological has to be dried for the electron microscope as it is under vacuum, so that can be tricky getting things preserved correctly. Once I can get out fishing again, too much working, I will see if I can get any more interesting images. Since I do not need liquid nitrogen for my detector (as the older models did) I cannot readily freeze dry things.

fishinChristian · Post by **fishinChristian** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:24 am

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Freeze dried parasite!

Northwest Fishing Reports

Fish scales close up

Fish scales close up

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