Spatial variation in otolith elemental composition of the Pacific herring Clupea pallasii in northern Japan

Abstract

In order to examine whether otolith elemental composition of Pacific herring Clupea pallasii reflected spatially specific differences in capture location, we analyzed the elemental compositions in the edge portion of each otolith, which corresponded to the period immediately prior to the capture, as an indicator of the geographic areas in which the outer otolith was deposited. We collected 7 fish groups from 5 coastal sites: Tomamae offshore, Ishikari Bay, Akkeshi Bay, Lake Furen and Miyako Bay along the Japanese coast. Six elemental ratios, Na/Ca, Mg/Ca, K/Ca, Cu/Ca, Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca, were measured in the edge areas of each otolith by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Significant differences were shown in all mean elemental ratios of otoliths among 4 sampling groups in the 2005 year class and among 3 sampling groups in the 2006 year class. The classification accuracy with the jackknife cross-validation using quadratic discriminant function analysis ranged from 80 to 98% and 78 to 100% in the 2005 and 2006 year classes, respectively. Our findings are comparable to those in previous studies and are further evidence that otolith chemistry is a potential tool for identifying the Pacific herring groups with different habitatuse histories and migration patterns. KEY WORDS: Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) · Otolith chemistry · Pacific herring · Population structure · MovementResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Aquat Biol 10: 283-290, 2010 tuated in size (Iizuka & Morita 1991, Nagasawa 2001, which possibly affects the fluctuation of the total abundance of the species. In order to understand the population dynamics of Pacific herring, it is important to discriminate each ecologically different population and to determine the migration patterns for feeding and spawning in coastal and oceanic habitats.In previous studies, the population structure and the movements of Pacific herring were examined using artificial tags and genetics (Grant & Utter 1984, Kobayashi et al. 1990, Hay et al. 2001, Sugaya et al. 2008. Artificial tagging methods however, can only link a recaptured fish to the geographic area where it was marked. Furthermore, they are impractical for smallsize fishes because of the high rates of mortality during early life stages, and because of the requirement of a large number of tagged individuals to ensure a sufficient number of recaptures. Genetic composition can link fish to their origin populations, but not to the geographic areas where it was distributed. In Pacific herring, therefore, alternative approaches are required for studying the population structure and the movements of individual fish.To date, the chemical compositions of otoliths of teleost fishes have been analyzed to elucidate ecological questions concerning their population structure (Campana et al. 1994, Milton et al. 1997, population connectivity (Gillanders 2002), migration (Limburg 1995, Arai et al. 2004, th...

What Maintains the Central North Pacific Genetic Discontinuity in Pacific Herring?

“…Geographic differences in morphometric and meristic variables [44], [46], [47] and in otolith elemental compositions [48] among populations support the hypothesis of adaptive responses to local environments and short-term isolation between populations. On longer time scales, shifts in annual migration patterns in response to ocean-climate variability leads to mixing between herring aggregations [45], [49], [50].…”

Elemental Inventory in Fish Otoliths Reflects Natal Origin of Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus) From Baltic Sea Juvenile Areas

“…The successful outcome of otolith microchemistry studies strongly depends on spatial variability of elemental concentrations between investigated habitats. There is abundant evidence that fish otoliths from different basins and even sites within basins show spatial variability in their elemental composition (De Pontual et al, 1999;Rooker et al, 2001;Yamane et al, 2010). Our approach included the entire inventory of otolith-core elements summarized by a unique EFI, based on 17 elements.…”

Utilization patterns of estuarine and marine habitats by the halfbeak Zenarchopterus dunckeri at Iriomote Island, southern Japan, evaluated from otolith microchemistry

“…Each otolith of the wild-caught individuals (n = 31) was also ablated by a scanning spot laser beam (diameter 30 lm) at 40-lm intervals along the transect from the otolith core to the posterior edge, the number of laser spots varying with the radius of each otolith (18-44 spots). Elemental composition was determined according to Yamane et al [29,30]. The frequency of the laser beam, and laser energy were 10 Hz and 7.05 J/ cm 2 , respectively.…”