Elemental composition of illicia and otoliths and their potential application to age validation in white anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius linnaeus, 1758)

The incorporation of trace elements into the calcified structures of fish can vary seasonally. Interpretation of these seasonal signals can provide information about fish age. This approach offers great promise for objectively estimating age and corroborating other methods of age estimation for fish...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Brophy, Deirdre, Pérez-Mayol, Silvia, Duncan, Roxanne, Hüssy, Karin, Geffen, Audrey J., Gerritsen, Hans D., Villanueva, María Ching, Morales-Nin, Beatriz
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/255744
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/255744
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Age validation
Illicium
Otolith microchemistry
Seasonality
Anglerfish
Lophius piscatorius
Descripción
Sumario:The incorporation of trace elements into the calcified structures of fish can vary seasonally. Interpretation of these seasonal signals can provide information about fish age. This approach offers great promise for objectively estimating age and corroborating other methods of age estimation for fish stock assessment. This study investigated seasonal variation in trace element composition of otoliths and illicia from white anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius L.), a species that is very difficult to age using visual interpretation of growth bands in their calcified structures. A suite of trace elements (Na, Mg, Zn, Sr, Ba in illicia and Na, Mg, K, Sr, Ba in otoliths) was measured with LA-ICPMS using discrete ablations and continuous line scans. A method is presented to obtain reliable measurements of microchemical composition from illicia. Variation in elemental concentrations at the edge of the illicium was primarily related to fish length and no differences were detected between fish collected at different times of the year. In otoliths, Sr concentrations at the edge (0–100 μm) were highest in anglerfish collected during wintertime (quarter 1). Seasonal differences in Sr were statistically significant but small; a larger proportion of the explained variance was attributed to length and individual variability. Nonetheless, the seasonal pattern was consistently detected across all size classes, indicating that the analysis of cycles in otolith Sr could potentially provide a tool to support age estimation in white anglerfish.