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Preservation Effects on Stable Isotope Analysis of Fish Muscle
Author(s) -
Arrington D. Albrey,
Winemiller Kirk O.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(2002)131<0337:peosia>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - δ13c , δ15n , stable isotope ratio , isotope analysis , fish <actinopterygii> , isotopes of carbon , isotope , muscle tissue , quail , nitrogen , chemistry , biology , environmental chemistry , ecology , anatomy , fishery , total organic carbon , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
We evaluated the effect of salt and formalin‐ethanol sample preservation on carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures of fish muscle tissue. We found statistically significant effects of the tissue preservation technique on both δ 13 C and δ 15 N; however, the magnitude of change was small and directionally uniform. Isotopic shifts were similar to those observed in previous studies in which formalin was used to preserve samples of quail blood and muscle and sheep blood. Because salt preservation caused minimal isotopic shifts (+0.13‰ δ 13 C, +0.72‰ δ 15 N), we propose salt as an easy, inexpensive preservation technique for biological samples collected in remote field settings. Specimens preserved with formalin and ethanol were minimally affected by preservation (−1.12‰ δ 13 C, +0.62‰ δ 15 N) and therefore may be suitable for ecological applications of stable isotope analysis when carbon and nitrogen sources are differentiated by more than 2‰. Further research is required to evaluate potential long‐term storage effects of formalin fixation and alcohol preservation on isotopic signatures of fish tissues.