Comparison of Scale and Otolith Age Estimates for two Archer Fishes (Toxotes jaculatrix, Pallas, 1767 and Toxotes chatareus, Hamilton, 1822) from Malaysian Estuaries

Abstract

A total of 85 specimens of archer fi shes (Toxotes chatareus and Toxotes jaculatrix) from the estuaries of South Johore, Malaysia
were examined for age determination using scales and otoliths aging methods. The accuracy of the methods was compared between
scales and otoliths among the archer fi shes. A linear relationship was found for both scale (r = 0.816) and otolith length (r = 0.971)
with standard length (SL). Relationship between scale length and weight and otolith length and weight can be expressed by the
formula W = 0.0155L2.917, W = 0.1082L1.834 respectively. Daily growth rings and annulus of scales count up confi rmed that the ages
of the samples for both species were mostly less than one years (<1) and the remaining samples were between one and two (1-2)
years. We also observed that there were no remarkable differences between scale and otolith age reading and dissimilarity was only
observed in very few samples of both species of archer fishes.