The first marginal pectoral fin ray (fin spine) is the most common structure used for estimating the age of sturgeons, including Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens. However, conflicting results from studies on the effects of fin spine removal have made some managers hesitant about the practice. We investigated whether the second pectoral fin ray, which can be removed in a less invasive procedure, could be used for estimating ages of Lake Sturgeon. Ages estimated from fin spine and second fin ray samples were compared for 53 wild (470 to 1,981 mm TL) and 16 stocked, known‐age (ages 8–18) Lake Sturgeon. Mean coefficient of variation for all samples was 12.4% for the fin spine and 17.5% for the second fin ray. In known‐age fish, 17% of estimated ages for the fin spine and the second fin ray matched true age. For the remaining estimates, the difference between the second fin ray and true age was greater than the difference between the fin spine and true age (P < 0.05, Wilcoxon’s signed rank test). In juvenile fish (n = 24), 75% of ages estimated from fin spines and second fin rays were within ±4 annuli, which was similar to differences in reader agreement for the same fin spine. Age estimates for adult Lake Sturgeon (n = 45) were less when using the second fin ray relative to the fin spine (up to –34 years). Additionally, poor annulus clarity was observed in >70% of the second fin rays sampled from adult fish. Our results suggest that the second fin ray does not provide reliable age estimates for adult Lake Sturgeon but may have some utility for estimating age of juvenile Lake Sturgeon. Additional research with a larger sample size would be required to provide more conclusive results.

中文翻译：

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第二鳍雷显示出对估计幼龄而不是成年Lake鱼年龄的承诺

第一边缘胸鳍鳍（鳍脊柱）是用于估算st鱼年龄的最常见结构，包括St鱼湖A鱼（Acipenser fulvescens）。但是，有关去除鳍鳍的影响的研究结果相互矛盾，使一些管理人员对这种做法犹豫不决。我们调查了是否可以用侵入性较小的手术将其切除的第二条胸鳍射线可用于估算St鱼湖的年龄。比较了鳍鳍和第二鳍射线样本估计的年龄，包括53个野生（470至1,981毫米TL）和16个已知年龄（8-18岁）的St鱼湖。所有样品的平均变异系数对于鳍脊柱为12.4％，对于第二鳍鳍片为17.5％。在已知年龄的鱼中，鳍脊和第二条鳍的估计年龄的17％与真实年龄相符。对于其余的估算值，第二条鳍射线与真实年龄之间的差异大于鳍脊柱与真实年龄之间的差异（P <0.05，Wilcoxon的符号秩检验）。在幼鱼（n  = 24）中，根据鳍棘和第二鳍射线估计的年龄的75％在±4环以内，这与同一鳍脊在阅读器一致性上的差异相似。 当使用第二条鳍片时，成年的St鱼湖的年龄估计值（n = 45）相对于鳍片脊柱（小于–34岁）要小。此外，从成年鱼中取样的第二条鳍中，> 70％的人发现环空清晰度差。我们的结果表明，第二条鳍片不能为St鱼成年湖提供可靠的年龄估计，但对于估计Lake鱼少年的年龄可能具有一定的实用性。为了提供更多结论性的结果，需要进行更大样本量的额外研究。