Identification of riverine, estuarine, and coastal contingents of Hudson River striped bass based upon otolith elemental fingerprints

Elemental fingerprints of otoliths from Hudson River striped bass Morone saxatilis were used to define resident, estuarine, and ocean migratory contingents, which had previously been determined by otolith microprobe analysis of Sr:Ca. Using solution-based inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry, 7 metals were quantified in whole otoliths. Discriminant analysis of elements showed a high degree of separation among the 3 migratory contingents. Barium was significantly higher in otoliths from the freshwater resident group, while Sr and Na were significantly lower in comparison to mesohaline and ocean contingents. Identification of contingents by the bulk chemistry method indicated that divergent migratory patterns persist over lifetimes for Hudson River striped bass.