Notes: A Morphological Explanation for Size-Dependent Anchor Tag Loss from Striped Bass

Abstract
The potential consequences of the relationship between the design of the anchor (Dennison) tag and the morphology of its attachment site has never been considered. During 1976 and 1977, anchor tags (Floy FD-67C) were inserted in Hudson River striped bass Morone saxatilis in a location that should have resulted in the anchor of the tag lodging between the distal tips of the 18th and 19th neural spines. Although the distance between neural spines increases with fish length, tag anchors of the same length (10 mm) were used on all fish in 1976 and 1977. We later measured the gap between the 18th and 19th neural spines on 13 striped bass that were 102–655 mm total length and found, through linear regression, that a gap of 10 mm or more should occur in fish 592 mm or longer. Based on recaptures by anglers during 1976 and 1977, the number of days at large and the proportion of fish recaptured 50–365 d after tagging was significantly lower for fish that were 592 mm or longer than for fish shorter than 59...

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