EarthRef.org Digital Archive (ERDA) -- Lesson 3 Fish Head Dissection Lab

Description
In fish, otoliths, or â¿ear bonesâ¿, help with balance, orientation, and hearing. For scientists, otoliths can reveal information about the age, size, and growth of a fish. Students will learn hands on why and how fisheries scientists dissect fish by examining the external and internal structures of a fish head and remove the fishâ¿¿s otoliths. The students will measure the lengths of their otoliths and use that data to reconstruct an estimated body length size of their salmon. They will then compare the fish size structure data between the two types of salmon that were dissected (farmed Atlantic salmon and wild caught Chinook salmon).