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A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as well as possible hydrodynamic advantages.
Aristotle (ca. 340 B.C.) may have been the first scientist to speculate on the use of hard parts of fishes to determine age, stating in Historica Animalium that “the age of a scaly fish may be told by the size and hardness of its scales.” [4] However, it was not until the development of the microscope that more detailed studies were performed on the structure of scales. [5]
Meristics is an area of zoology and botany which relates to counting quantitative features of animals and plants, such as the number of fins or scales in fish.A meristic (countable trait) can be used to describe a particular species, or used to identify an unknown species.
Derived from placoid scales, they have a thick coat of enamel, but without the underlying layer of dentin. These scales cover the fish's body with little overlapping. They are typical of gar and bichirs. Cycloid scales are small, oval-shaped scales with growth rings like the rings of a tree. They lack enamel, dentin, and a vascular bone layer.
Reptile scale types include: cycloid, granular (which appear bumpy), and keeled (which have a center ridge). Scales usually vary in size, the stouter, larger scales cover parts that are often exposed to physical stress (usually the feet, tail and head), while scales are small around the joints for flexibility.
Age can be determined by counting growth rings in fish scales, otoliths, cross-sections of fin spines for species with thick spines such as triggerfish, [2] or teeth for a few species. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Each method has its merits and drawbacks.
The all-tackle record was a 302 lb (137 kg) alligator gar caught on a trotline in 1953 by T.C. Pierce Jr. In 1991, fishing guide Kirk Kirkland anecdotally reported catching an alligator gar measuring 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) on rod and line from the Trinity River. [46]
The current International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record for a white crappie is 2.35 kg (5.2 lb), caught on July 31, 1957, near Enid Dam, Mississippi, by angler Fred Bright, while the IGFA all-tackle length world record is a 39-centimetre (15 in) fish, caught on October 14, 2022, in Grenada Lake, Mississippi, by angler Doug Borries.