Comparison of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) age estimates derived from dorsal fin spines and pectoral fin rays

Abstract

Understanding population dynamics of invasive species is critical for formulating effective management plans but dependent upon the reliability of age estimations. We compared age estimates derived from dorsal fin spines and pectoral fin rays from common carp (Cyprinus carpio), a widespread invasive species that imposes deleterious ecosystem effects. Age estimates derived from each structure were highly correlated with one another. Percentage agreement (PA) was higher (57.9%) and coefficient of variation (CV) was lower (6.6%) initially for dorsal fin spines compared to pectoral fin rays (43.5%, 9.9%, respectively), but both structures had high PA (∼95%) and low CV (0.3%) following a joint examination. Thus, both dorsal fin spines and pectoral fin rays provide similar age estimates of common carp and can be used to understand population dynamics of this species.