Tyler Wagner S.R. Midway 2016 <div class="t m0 x0 h7 yc ff3 fs4 fc0 sc0 ls0 ws0">Despite being a large, conspicuous teleost with a worldwide tropical and temperate distribution, the giant oarfish <i>Regalecus</i> spp. remain very rare fish species in terms of scientific sampling. Subsequently, very little biological information is known about <i>Regalecus</i> spp. and almost nothing has been concluded in the field of age and growth (Roberts, 2012). No studies of otoliths or temporal (annual) markings on any hard structures have been reported, and to our knowledge otoliths have never been recovered from any specimens (Tyson Roberts, personal communication),although a few texts do provide illustrations of <i>Regalecus</i> sp. otoliths (Lin and Chang, 2012; Nolf, 2013). Further inferential difficulty comes from the fact that age and growth studies of any Lampridiforme species are rare. <i>Lampris guttatus</i> is perhaps the only Lampridiforme species for which any biological information has been reported(Francis et al., 2004), which stems from the species commercial value. In order to begin understanding any species (for later purposes of management, conservation, etc.), basic biological information is needed. In the present study, we examine not only the first <i>Regalecus russellii</i> otolith, but provide suggestions toward future work that should direct data collection that can be used to generate basic biological information for this species.</div> application/pdf 10.1111/jai.12967 en Wiley The first description of oarfish Regalecus glesne (<i>Regalecus russellii</i> Cuvier 1816) ageing structures article