Dr. Percival Powles
NOAA Beaufort Lab Oral Histories
Interviews with retired staff of NOAA Beaufort Lab, documenting their academic background, career path, research focus, and reflections on their work in the lab.
Dr. Percival “Perce” Powles, is a professor emeritus at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He received his Ph. D. in biology from McGill University in Montreal. Perce retired from Trent University in 1995. Perce’s interest in ichthyology focused on the early life history of freshwater and marine fishes. In 1985, he became acquainted with Stan Warlen of the Beaufort Laboratory and the Lab’s work with daily growth rings deposited on the otoliths, or earstones, of marine fishes. Beginning in 1996, Perce and his wife, Bev, commenced making annual sabbatical visits to the Beaufort Laboratory. Their initial studies at Beaufort involved estimating the age of larval American eels via the daily growth rings on their otoliths. Research results indicated that larval American eels travel from their birth area in the Sargasso Sea to Beaufort Inlet in about 80 days. Later, Perce collaborated with Stan Warlen and Jon Hare at the Beaufort Laboratory to study daily growth of the worm eel, Myrophus. Perce and Bev continued their annual visits to the Beaufort Laboratory through 2016.
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