Redfish is a slow-growing, long-lived scorpaenid. In the
Northwest Atlantic it is found from Davis Strait southward to
the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank at water depths up to 300
meters (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). Growth rates attained to
age 6 are the same for both sexes, but thereafter females grow
faster than males. Both sexes mature at about age 8 or 9. Mating
occurs during the fall, and gravid females can be found the
following spring with larvae appearing in the water column from
April to September (Kelly and Wolf 1959). A maximum age of 50
years and a size of 45-50 cm (18-20 in) has been documented
(Mayo et al. 1983). Both scales and otoliths have been used to
determine the age of redfish. Scales have been used by European
investigators and are prepared by impregnating the scales with
silver nitrate and viewing under polarized light (Kosswig 1971,
1980). In the earliest investigations of redfish at the NEFSC,
Woods Hole Laboratory, scales were cleaned in an acidic
solution, impressed on a plastic sl