Shark Bay, Cairns

[Andrew_P]

I was up in Cairns for work this week and the weather looked the goods. Having not fished for ages my colleague offered a sneaky after work session around a headland/bay. Well we hooked a bunch of good fish and only got 1 legal largemouth nanny, barred grunter and fingermark head past the sharks. The head itself weighed 2kg so it would’ve been a solid fish for me. We swabbed the shark bite for DNA analysis and I whipped out the otoliths (ear bones) so we could estimate the age. Will update this post when I have some details. 
cheers

[Angry51]

Yeah, would have been nice in the esky.

[Andrew_P]

Still got the wings, cheeks and what was left behind the head for a feed

[ellicat]

Those sharks are getting smarter. I'm sure they don't bother hunting anymore, they just wait for a fisherman to hookup.

Good to see you get out and onto a few anyway.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Good job Andrew, that’s a big fingermark! 

[Junky]

Nice fingermark Andrew. 

Bloody sharks, they always take the best bits. 

 

I'm betting it's either a white tip, or a bull shark on the DNA results. 

And the fish is 18yrs old. 

 

 

[Bretto77]

Good job. I like to see some science involved.  Sorry the sharks left you with "incomplete" samples...

I miss NQ.

[Andrew_P]

I’ve done a post about the science of estimating fish age on here previously. Will try to post a link:

Estimating fish age

[Bretto77]

11 hours ago, Andrew_P said:

I’ve done a post about the science of estimating fish age on here previously. Will try to post a link:

Estimating fish age

Cheers for that.  I have a mate who worked at northern fisheries in Cairns years ago. That was part of his job too at the time.  Good of you to take the time to show people a little of the science in the research.

[Andrew_P]

I got my hands on the section of otolith the girls in the lab prepared for me. Took a couple of pics under the microscope - have a crack at counting the annual rings! I will post my interpretation up tomorrow

[ellicat]

That's like counting the grooves on an old vinyl LP. I tried zooming right in and still couldn't do it. Have some respect for the older members, Andrew.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

19?

[Angry51]

15 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

19?

What's that , years or older members?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

33 minutes ago, Angry51 said:

What's that , years or older members?

19 Years away from 100?

[Neil Stratford]

I’ll go 7 years old.

regards

Neil

[Old Scaley]

I’ll go 16 years.

[Another Wazza]

By the looks of it, I’ll go 17

[Andrew_P]

a few experienced otolith interpreters at work came up with 19 - the attached picture shows which rings were counted (yellow dots). Brian you will need your 10x glasses for this!

Golden snapper 8x annotated 2.bmp

[Angry51]

Yeah, clear as mud.

I'll stick to counting cows.

[ellicat]

I was able to count the spots. Yay

haha

[Andrew_P]

On 9/12/2022 at 4:44 AM, Junky said:

Nice fingermark Andrew. 

Bloody sharks, they always take the best bits. 

 

I'm betting it's either a white tip, or a bull shark on the DNA results. 

And the fish is 18yrs old. 

 

 

Pretty good guess Junky! No word on the shark dna yet

[Another Wazza]

That was a cracking Fingermark, and to think it was swimming around before IPhone’s were invented is astounding 

[Junky]

On 15/03/2023 at 11:11 AM, Andrew_P said:

I got my hands on the section of otolith the girls in the lab prepared for me. Took a couple of pics under the microscope - have a crack at counting the annual rings! I will post my interpretation up tomorrow

I need my glasses. 

That looks like warnies old pair of sunnies. 

Reckon they would seen a few annual rings in their time. 

[Junky]

22 minutes ago, Andrew_P said:

Pretty good guess Junky! No word on the shark dna yet

Wahoo.... 

I know fish. 

[Old Scaley]

23 minutes ago, Junky said:

Wahoo.... 

I know fish. 

You’re good @Junky, but not quite as good as Professor @AUS-BNE-FISHO who was spot on with 19. Lucky guess, Hamish, or could your teenage eyes actually count the rings?  

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

16 minutes ago, Old Scaley said:

You’re good @Junky, but not quite as good as Professor @AUS-BNE-FISHO who was spot on with 19. Lucky guess, Hamish, or could your teenage eyes actually count the rings?  

I actually counted the dark bits in between the lighter parts as they were easier to see - probably a fair bit of luck though! 

[Angry51]

23 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

I actually counted the dark bits in between the lighter parts as they were easier to see - probably a fair bit of luck though! 

That's a 21st century form of cheating.