Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

From AGFC Black Bass Management

A cross-section of an otolith from an 11-year-old Largemouth Bass (Length: 19.2 inches, Weight: 3.88 pounds) collected from Norfork Lake. Rarely do we see a sectioned otolith this clear. In the second picture, the yellow circles show the location of the ten annuli. Since this fish was collected in the spring while annulus formation was occurring, an additional year was added to the number of annuli counted. This is standard practice when aging fish collected in the spring. Another interesting observation from this otolith was the fish grew little after age-4 based on the distance between annuli.

More to come on this Norfork Lake Largemouth Bass aging effort.

https://www.agfc.com/en/fishing/

Interested to see what they find next.

11 years old and less than 4 lbs ...... that is surprising to me.

MichaelB wrote:11 years old and less than 4 lbs ...... that is surprising to me.

It may be a Northern strain, and have limited forage.

Male NLMB weight is about right.
Tom

Had to look it up, imagine someone else is wondering too.
An otolith, also known as an otoconium, is a tiny crystal of limestone found within a gelatinous layer that covers hair receptor cells in the utricle and saccule of the inner ear. When acceleration occurs, each otolith is displaced and this movement is transferred to the hair cells below, triggering nerve impulses.

Non lethal aging methods are lateral line scale, dorsal fin spine counting the rings for each year of growth. Both work but not as accurate as Otolith from dead bass.
Tom