Giant 90-year-old fish reeled in off Alaska

A commercial fishing boat hauled in whatmay have been one of the oldest creatures in Alaska -- a giantrockfish estimated to be about a century old.The 44-inch, 60-pound female shortraker rockfish was caught lastmonth by the catcher-processor Kodiak Enterprise as it trawled forpollock 2,100 feet below the surface, south of the Pribilof Islandsin the Bering Sea.The Seattle-based vessel, owned by Trident Seafoods, pulled up anestimated 75 tons of pollock and 10 bright-orange rockfish.Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration atthe Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle measured,photographed and documented the fish. They removed an ear bone, theotolith, which contains growth rings similar to rings in the trunksof trees.They estimate the rockfish was 90 to 115 years old.That's toward the upper end of the known age limit for shortrakerrockfish, said Paul Spencer of the science center. Other estimatesput the fish's maximum age at 157 years, Spencer said.The contents of the rockfish's stomach were examined and scientiststook tissue samples to measure her reproductive potential. "Thebelly was large," Spencer said. "The ovaries were full of developingembryos."Scientists said the specimen is not the biggest on record. A 47-inchshortraker rockfish was recorded, according to the book "Fishes ofAlaska."