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Otolith elemental (Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca, Mn:Ca, Mg:Ca and Rb:Ca) and isotopic ( 87Sr: 86Sr) profiles from several annual cohorts of juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar were related to the physico-chemical characteristics (chemical signatures, flow rate, temperature and conductivity) of their natal rivers over an annual hydrological cycle. Only Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca and 87Sr: 86Sr in otoliths were determined by their respective ratios in the ambient water. Sr:Ca ratios in stream waters fluctuated strongly on a seasonal basis, but these fluctuations, mainly driven by water flow regimes, were not recorded in the otoliths. Otolith Sr:Ca ratios remained constant during freshwater residency at a given site and were exclusively related to water Sr:Ca ratios during low flow periods. While interannual differences in otolith elemental composition among rivers were observed, this variability was minor compared to geographic variability and did not limit classification of juveniles to their natal stream. Success in discriminating fish from different sites was greatest using Sr isotopes as it remained relatively constant across years at a given location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Individual European flounder and European eel levels of contamination by cadmium, copper and 7PCBs were related to their retrospective pattern of habitat use, using a combined toxicology and otolith microchemistry approach. The results showed that both species used the freshwater, the upper and lower estuarine habitats. There was a strong difference in the level of contamination of eel compared to flounder, with higher levels of PCBs, copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) in eel. The differences of contamination between muscle and liver were also specific to the considered species. The choice of the river habitat at an early age seemed to increase the risk of exposure to PCBs. The results suggested that the use of the upper estuary was related to a higher level of copper for both species and of PCBs for the flounder. The higher level of liver cadmium was measured for fish spending the longer time in the lower estuary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Daverat F, Martin J, Fablet R, Pécheyran C. Colonisation tactics of three temperate catadromous species, eel Anguilla anguilla, mullet Liza ramada and flounder Plathychtys flesus, revealed by Bayesian multielemental otolith microchemistry approach. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 2011: 20: 42-51. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S The colonisation of Gironde (SW France) river catchment by juvenile, eel, Anguilla anguilla, flounder Platychtys flesus and thinlipp mullet Liza ramada was investigated comparatively using Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca composition of otolith. The relation between Sr, Ba and habitat was investigated based on Sr and Ba water composition sampled each month along the estuary-river gradient. A total of 50 mullets, 30 eels and 47 flounders were collected in the Gironde river catchment. Analysis was performed with a Femtosecond LA-ICPMS along a trajectory from the core to the edge. Sr and Ba water concentrations discriminated three habitats within the Gironde system, the lower estuary, the upper estuary and the freshwater sites. A signal processing method based on Gaussian hidden Markov models was applied to the multielemental life-history data. The linear model used to allocate a Gironde habitat to coupled Sr, Ca values was parameterised with seasonal patterns and magnitude of Sr and Ba water values in the different habitats. The results showed that the three species used three different habitats and they had a large diversity of habitat use patterns with resident and nomadic tactics. Resident tactics were less frequent than nomadic tactics that suggested individual fish used two or more habitats. Mullet used a wider range of habitats in the lower part of the estuary than eel and flounder and switched habitats more frequently. Flounders tended to colonise initially freshwater, and then estuarine habitats later in life while mullets used the entire range of available catchment habitats throughout their life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Martin J, Daverat F, Pécheyran C, Als TD, Feunteun E, Réveillac E. An otolith microchemistry study of possible relationships between the origins of leptocephali of European eels in the Sargasso Sea and the continental destinations and relative migration success of glass eels. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 2010: 19: 627-637. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S Little is known about the extent to which Atlantic eels coming from different European rivers converge on the same spawning site. Our aim was to evaluate the spatial homogeneity of eel spawning area(s) with an otolith microchemistry approach. This work compared the elemental signatures of otolith's core region of Anguilla anguilla leptocephali caught in the Sargasso Sea in 2007 with those of glass eels and elvers sampled in European estuaries during 2006, 2008 and 2009. Using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, the same annular ablation trajectory along the first feeding mark was applied on otoliths of glass eels, elvers and leptocephali. The concentrations of thirteen isotopes in the otoliths of glass eels/elvers did not vary among three annual cohorts collected in eleven European locations. However, otolith elemental fingerprints of leptocephali differed significantly from glass eels otolith's signature. Although the mechanisms that regulate the differences in trace element signatures among leptocephali and glass eels/elvers are unknown, we propose that the sampled glass eels/elvers were born in a spawning site or region where favourable transport and/or feeding conditions occurred. Conversely, the leptocephali may have been sampled in a less favourable region in the Sargasso Sea, with a low probability of reaching continental growth areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]