A skeletochronological study of age in the Persian pond turtle (Emys orbicularis persica) from the north of Iran

The skeletochronological technique has been used to estimatethe age of the Persian pond turtle in the north of Iran. In this study, the phalange and femur bones were removed, decalcified in chloric acid, and sections stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin. The age of the specimens was determined by the number of lines of arrested growth (LAGs) in cross sections. Additionally, correlation between age and eight morphometric characters of E. o. persica were analysed using Pearson correlation. The skeletochronology results showed the mean age in the specimens (n=23) from the Golestan, Mazandaran and Guilan provinces were estimated four years (range= from 3 to 6) in juveniles (n=4), nine years (range from 6 to 12) in males (n=8), and 9.5 years (range from 7 to 15) in females (n=11). Females were significantly longer (minimum straight carapace length (SCL1); 146.8±9.08 mm) than males (SCL1; 123.36±8.11 mm) but there was no statistically significant difference in the age structures between the sexes. Moreover, the results of correlation test shows that the correlation coefficients were not significant between morphometric characters and age (P> 0.05).

Keywords:

Turtle age , Emys orbicularis , LAGs , Northern iran , skeletochronology