Basic life history information can be useful for informing the management of protected species such as the Pahrump Poolfish Empetrichthys latos, a goodeid (Cyprinodontiformes) that is endemic to the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada, USA, and the last surviving remnant of Empetrichthys. Critically endangered and extirpated from its native range, Pahrump Poolfish has been managed among constructed refuge habitats since 1971. To better understand sex-specific age demographics, we used thin-sectioned otoliths to age 121 Pahrump Poolfish from one population, collected in June 2017. These samples suggested a maximum age of 10 years for females and 7 years for males, with a substantial portion of all fish greater than 4 years old. This is more than twice the previously reported maximum age for this species. We report on the inadequacy of reading whole otoliths, opercula, and scales for age analysis of this species. Based on thin-sectioned otoliths, we also model growth in length as a function of age among individuals. We found significant sexual dimorphism across this fish’s ontogeny, which has implications for selecting an appropriate sex ratio for founding populations.

中文翻译：

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薄片耳石揭示了濒临灭绝的 Pahrump Poolfish 的性别二态性和 10 年寿命

基本生活史信息可用于为受保护物种的管理提供信息，例如 Pahrump Poolfish Empetrichthys latos，一种在美国内华达州南部莫哈韦沙漠特有的 Goodeid (Cyprinodontiformes) 以及最后幸存的Empetrichthys残余物. 自 1971 年以来，Pahrump Poolfish 已极度濒临灭绝并已从其原生范围内灭绝。为了更好地了解特定性别的年龄人口统计数据，我们使用薄片耳石对 2017 年 6 月收集的一个种群中的 121 条 Pahrump Poolfish 进行了年龄管理。这些样本表明女性的最大年龄为 10 岁，男性的最大年龄为 7 岁，所有鱼的很大一部分年龄超过 4 岁。这是该物种先前报道的最大年龄的两倍多。我们报告了阅读整个耳石、耳盖和鳞片以进行该物种年龄分析的不足之处。基于薄片耳石，我们还模拟了个体长度随年龄的增长。我们在这条鱼的个体发育过程中发现了显着的性别二态性，