Application of Otolith Chemical Signatures to Estimate Population Connectivity of Red Snapper in the Western Gulf of Mexico

Otolith chemical signatures of Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus from six nursery regions were used to estimate the sources of recruits to four sampling regions in the western Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and to estimate whether postsettlement mixing of Red Snapper occurs between the U.S. and Mexican portions of the western Gulf. In a previous study, region‐specific otolith signatures (element : Ca ratios: Ba:Ca, Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca, Sr:Ca, and Li:Ca; stable isotope delta values: δ 13 C and δ 18 O) were developed based on age‐0 Red Snapper (2005–2007 year‐classes) sampled from the six nursery areas. In the present study, subadult and adult Red Snapper (ages 1–3) belonging to those same year‐classes were collected from four sampling regions within the western Gulf (two regions in U.S. waters; two regions along the Mexican continental shelf) during summer in 2006–2008. Left sagittal otoliths were used to age subadults and adults to the corresponding nursery year‐classes, and right sagittal otoliths were cored for chemical analysis. Off the southwestern U.S. coast, the sampled age‐1–3 Red Snapper included locally derived recruits as well as recruits from the northwestern Gulf nursery region. However, analytical results were inconclusive with respect to estimating the connectivity between Red Snapper populations in U.S. and Mexican waters of the western Gulf. Received May 4, 2015; accepted August 25, 2015