Age determination in fish fish. Johannes Reibisch, working for the Commission of Scientific Investigation of German Seas at Kiel, attempted to use Hoffbauer’s techniques to age plaice ("Plueronectes platessa") but found it difficult to accurately discern annuli. He decided to study a different structure and in 1899 he published the first procedures using otoliths as an aging structure. A fellow scientist also with the German Commission at Kiel, Friedriche Heincke, also frustrated with difficult scale annuli, further studied other structures to age fish. He discovered annuli in the vertebrae, opercula, and pectoral girdle and published his findings in Heicke 1905. The works of Hoffbauer,
RV Platessa RV "Platessa" was handed back to the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) after 20 years in service, she was replaced by the "RV Corella". In 1968 the RV "Platessa" was sold to private owners (H.J. Lamprell Ltd) and after sinking in Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft in 1975 she was eventually hulked at Lake Lothing where her remains lay for many years. She was recorded as still extant in Lake Lothing on August 19th 2015, and from examination of Google Earth images it seems that she continues to exist as one of two wooden wrecks (the other being the MFV Yellowtail) in