How old are these fish: ? How do you read scale rings ?

Yeah, I'm with Mooch-I LOVE this kind of stuff.
Ow! Hey, I think i just learned something!

Thanks for the info Jim, cool stuff and much appreciated.

What Jim isn't telling you is that reading otoliths and scales is as much an art as it is a science.  I can't tell you how many times I've looked at an otolith and questioned just about every ring I counted.  Is that a real ring?  Shouldn't there be another ring right about here? 

The microchemistry stuff however is way cool.  I mean, Jim gets to shoot and obliterate fish ear bones with friggin' lazers