Otolith morphology, microstructure and ageing in the hedgehog seahorse, Hippocampus spinosissimus (Weber, 1913)

Summary The life history characteristics of many species of seahorse, including the hedgehog seahorse Hippocampus spinosissimus, make them sensitive to exploitation. Consequently, proper management tools must be employed; these are often based on reliable ageing. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possibility of using otoliths for ageing hedgehog seahorses from Vietnam. Asteriscus, lapillus and sagitta all showed moderate to strong correlations between fish standard length (SL), otolith length and number of increments in seahorses between 83 and 188 mm SL. There were no annual or seasonal marks in any of the three otolith pairs observed using dissecting or light microscopy, and only asteriscus revealed microincrements under light microscopy. The number of increments ranged between 71 and 137. A full trajectory of lapillar microincrements was only visible when using scanning electron microscopy, and then only in two of the examined individuals (88 and 115 increments). A validation experiment showed that the number of increments in the asterisci did not correspond to the age of seahorses bred and reared for 717 and 868 days. Furthermore, a second validation study using Alizarine Complexone (ALZ) otolith marking did not reveal any increments peripheral to the ALZ mark 30 days after marking. The conclusion of the study was that otoliths do not at present provide a reliable tool for estimating age in adult hedgehog seahorses, and therefore other tools have to be employed to improve their management.