Freshwater Drum Otoliths

[richyb]

I was just wondering how many rings it had? do you have to cut them in half to see the rings? just curious as I don't see myself doing it anytime soon.

 

 

Yes you have to cut them to see how many rings there are. ................. sheephead have huge odoliths, bluegills and smaller fish are maybe 1/4" long

[Jonny]

I can see clear banding in one of them. The picture shows it pretty well too.

 

Drum apparently live to about 10 yrs old. I can make out about 5 rings. I know that's not scientific like cutting it open, but maybe the fish was about 5 yrs old?

[Beats]

I'd say that's a good assessment. I can see rings on your pics. Unless you feel like doing this again, I'd say 5 yrs is close enough and wouldn't bother cutting it open.

[Jonny]

I'd say that's a good assessment. I can see rings on your pics. Unless you feel like doing this again, I'd say 5 yrs is close enough and wouldn't bother cutting it open.

 

And if i do it again, I take it that pictures won't be necessary?

 

You're right, ball park is close enough.

 

I don't catch a large drum every day, and I probably would have regretted not checking first-hand into something that I've heard about for so long. Just as I would have regretted not trying the taste of drum (see the other drum thread). I figured if catfish and even ling can taste so good, why not drum?

[adempsey]

I used to collect these at the beach along Lake Erie as a kid.

[Jonny]

I used to collect these at the beach along Lake Erie as a kid.

 

Now that's really interesting. Are you sure they were otoliths? The reason I'm asking is that the otoliths are inside the very hard bony structure of the skull of the drum and they're very hard to get out of there.

[wpoplar]

You don't have to dig them out of a fish. On Lake Erie we call them lucky stones, because of the L on one side, and collect them on the beaches. They are usually found at the waters edge in the sand. There color is pearl white against the sand making them fairly easy to see. When we anchor our boat near a beach we always try to find at least one to keep as a memory of the trip. We have a whole jar full now and many fond memories.

[Jonny]

I'm definitely no expert on otoliths. It just seemed to me that any forces that would destroy the bone around them would have a good chance of destroying the otoliths too. Obviously, if they're being found on beaches, they must be pretty durable.

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

those are big otoliths! i don't know why they'd be removed just for fun but to each his own...

a real challenge is removing a brookie otolith, although i sure hope someone wouldn't do this just for fun.

[aplumma]

Why in the hell are you all rifting someone for opening up a fish and checking out something that has a legend behind it. He decided to see what was inside of the fish and then shared it with all of us curing my and others interest in what the stones look like. It is healthy to want to see what is inside of or over the next hill... it is called curiosity and along with having thumbs it is what makes us top of the food chain. For all who say nay then you have not enough curiosity and are doomed to be sheep and follow blindly for the rest of your unadventurous lives.

 

All of this over one fish's life... go fishin folks

 

 

Art

[motv8tr]

Huh, never heard of them before, interesting stuff, I assume all fish have them? Thanks for the lesson JPJ

 

Maureen

[Fish Farmer]

As a kid we used to cut them out. As mentioned above they called them Lucky Stones because of the L on them. I used to lay them above my BINGO cards while playing bingo. Don't ask me how I made out.

Some reason, I don't think I should have said I played "Bingo" (Spiel)

[IndySKS]

About 25 years ago i was visiting a friend on the north shore of Nippissing and caught my first sheephead. My buddy dug the stones out for me and told me the story how they were good luck. I put them in my camera case and they have been there ever since.

 

Never thought of making ear rings out of them but i might just do that and pass them along to my grand daughter.

[canadadude]

All fish have Otoliths there used for balance and orientation for the fish, Drum have exceptionally large Otoliths.There made of a calcium substance and will do not degrade as fast as bone so yes you can find them on the beaches after the skull degrades.There also not digestable so they are found in other fisheaters scat.

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

Personally I always found them easiest to access underneath. A small incision on the palette of the roof of the mouth, then you grab it and crack it at the incision exposing the otolith.

 

When you have to do a gill net full of lake trout, you learn to be quick...

[lhousesoccer]

Personally I always found them easiest to access underneath. A small incision on the palette of the roof of the mouth, then you grab it and crack it at the incision exposing the otolith. When you have to do a gill net full of lake trout, you learn to be quick...

Dr. Salvelinus is right. The easiest way to access them is from underneath. Here's a series of pictures I took to train my summer fisheries technicians to extract otoliths from walleye for aging.

 

In this case, we started with just the head, as the bodies had already been removed for contaminant and pathogen biopsies.

 

The first step is to take a pair of dissecting scissors and cut through the isthmus (the fleshy part underneath the fish's jaws between the gill covers). Cut down behind the gill arches and separate where the gill arches connect to the upper palate of the fish. You can leave the gill arches connected to the fish towards the front of the head, or cut there as well and completely remove the gills.

 

Once the gill arches are removed, you'll see a "V" formation, where the cartilage surrounding the spinal column joins with the upper palate of the inside of the the fish's mouth. This spot gets snipped with a small pair of wire cutters.

 

You don't want to snip too deep, because the otoliths are directly underneath this. You only want to open up the cartilage area to reveal the spinal column where it attaches to the brain stem. The otoliths are in small sacs of fluid at this juncture. Can you see them inside the spinal column in this picture?

 

If not, these arrows point out the otoliths inside.

 

The next step is to take a pair of fine dissecting scissors and make a small snip in the cartilage. Then grasp the fish head with your thumb and index finger of your left hand just ahead of the snipped spot, and just behind it the same way with your right. Bend the fish in half, with the flex point being where you made the snip, as if you were breaking a stick.

 

After this step, you should be staring directly at the otoliths.

 

Here they are:

[Spiel]

Mmmmmmm, suddenly I have a craving for fish head soup.

 

Thanks lhousesoccer.

[jbailey]

oh wow that was quite the bio lesson! very interesting!