Premium
Otolith Microchemistry Provides Information Complementary to Microsatellite DNA for a Migratory Fish
Author(s) -
Feyrer Frederick,
Hobbs James,
Baerwald Melinda,
Sommer Ted,
Yin Qingzhu,
Clark Kevin,
May Bernie,
Bennett William
Publication year - 2007
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/t06-044.1
Subject(s) - otolith , estuary , microchemistry , fish migration , fishery , microsatellite , population , biology , habitat , floodplain , geography , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , genetics , allele , chemistry , demography , chromatography , sociology , gene
We investigated the ability of otolith microchemistry to discriminate natal habitats of the splittail Pogonichthys macrolepidotus , a migratory cyprinid endemic to the San Francisco Estuary, California. Splittails are broadly distributed in the brackish and freshwater portions of the lower estuary and make long‐distance upstream migrations during winter to rivers and floodplains for spawning. We found that the ratios of Sr: Ca and 87 Sr: 86 Sr in the otoliths (ascertained by laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry) of age‐0 fish collected from natal habitats significantly varied among four primary spawning rivers. Based on these two constituents, quadratic discriminant function analysis correctly classified 71% of the fish to their natal rivers. Recent work with microsatellite DNA indicates that splittails from these same rivers represent two genetically distinct populations. Thus, integrating data obtained from otolith microchemistry and microsatellite DNA can provide complementary information on the natal origin and genetic structure of splittails at any life stage. This information will be valuable for studies of the population dynamics of mixed‐stock samples collected from the estuary.