Bombs and Fish – how nuclear bombs can tell us about the age of fishes and other aquatic organisms ... We cannot properly manage aquatic ecosystems if we do not understand how the fishes within live and grow. Age and growth can be estimated, but often ages have been proven incorrect with catastrophic results for the fishery. Perhaps the only good thing about nuclear bombs that were tested in the 1950s and 1960s is that we can use a global radiocarbon (14C) signal as a time-specific marker to validate age. This bomb-derived signal has shown that many fishes live much longer than anticipated by measuring 14C in the ear stones (otoliths). Come see why understanding the longevity of fishes is important and how nuclear bombs can answer questions of age for aquatic organisms.