4.7 Article

Water and Otolith Chemistry: Implications for Discerning Estuarine Nursery Habitat Use of a Juvenile Flatfish

Journal

FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00347

Keywords

connectivity; flatfish; nursery areas; estuaries; migrations; otoliths

Funding

  1. Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, I.P.) [SFRH/BPD/95784/2013, SFRH/BD/137862/2018, DL57/2016/CP1479/CT0022, DL57/2016/CP1479/CT0024]
  2. FCT, I.P. through research project Mytag - Integrating natural and artificial tags to reconstruct fish migrations and ontogenetic niche shifts, under the Project 9471 - Reforcar a Investigacao, o Desenvolvimento Tecnologico e a Inovacao (Projeto 9471-RID [PTDC/MAR-EST/2098/2014]
  3. European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016787]
  4. Centre for Functional Ecology Strategic Project within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement [UID/BIA/04004/2019]
  5. Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre Strategic Project [UID/MAR/04292/2019]
  6. FEDER through the project ReNATURE - Valorization of the Natural Endogenous Resources of the Centro Region (Centro 2020) [Centro-01-765-0145-FEDER-000007]
  7. COMPETE 2020
  8. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [SFRH/BPD/95784/2013, SFRH/BD/137862/2018] Funding Source: FCT

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Variations in otolith elemental composition are widely used to reconstruct fish movements. However, reconstructing habitat use and environmental histories of fishes within estuaries is still a major challenge due to the dynamic nature of these coastal environments. In this study, we performed a laboratory experiment to investigate the effects of variations in salinity (three levels; 5, 18, 30) and temperature (two levels; 16, 21 degrees C) on the otolith elemental composition (Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca, Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca) of juvenile Senegalese sole Solea senegalensis. Temperature and salinity treatments mirrored the natural conditions of the estuarine habitats occupied by juvenile Senegalese sole, thereby providing information on the applicability of otolith microchemistry to reconstruct habitat use patterns within estuarine nurseries, where individual fish move across complex salinity and temperature gradients. While Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca in otoliths were both positively related to salinity, no temperature effect was observed. Partition coefficients, proxies for element incorporation rates increased with increasing salinity for Sr (D-Sr) and Ba (D-Ba). In contrast, salinity and temperature had little influence on otolith Mn:Ca and Mg:Ca, supporting physiological control on the incorporation of these elements. Our results are a stepping stone for the interpretation of otolith chemical profiles for fish collected in their natural habitats and contribute to better understanding the processes involved in otolith element incorporation.

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