Reef fish size at age, collected at natural reef sites in the northern Gulf of Mexico from November 2010 - August 2011

Sagittal otoliths were sampled from reef fishes collected at northern Gulf of Mexico reef sites. Otoliths were sectioned and aged following the methods of Patterson et al. (2001) or Jeffers et al. (2008) depending on fish size. Opaque zones were counted and the margin of the otolith was indicated as being either Opaque (“O”) or Translucent (“T”).研究从墨西哥湾北部礁区采集的礁栖鱼类中获取矢耳石（sagittal otoliths）样本。随后根据鱼类体型差异，参照帕特森等人（Patterson et al., 2001）或杰弗斯等人（Jeffers et al., 2008）的方法对耳石进行切片并开展年龄鉴定。统计耳石的不透明轮带数量，并将耳石边缘标记为不透明（记为“O”）或半透明（记为“T”）。