W-o-w, Joe. I had no idea. Thanks. That 125yr-old fish must have either very tight rings or very large scales.
I suspect both :-) As you might guess, just like tree rings, the annular rings on a fish's scales will tell you quite a bit about that fish's years. If you look at the scales of a farm raised fish that has a steady diet and relatively controlled environment, the rings will tend to be very evenly spaced and regular, whereas a fish from the wild will tend to reflect the lean and fat, cold and warm years with more uneven bands.