Otolith chemistry analyses indicate that water Sr:Ca is the primary factor influencing otolith Sr:Ca for freshwater and diadromous fish but not for marine fish

Water chemistry is thought to be the primary factor influencing fish otolith chemistry. Experimental results with freshwater and diadromous fish have been consistent with this paradigm, but with marine fish, they have often been ambiguous or contradictory. A review of water chemistry data indicated that Sr:Ca (mmol:mol) levels were higher in marine water than in most freshwater systems and that Sr:Ca variability was lower in marine water than in most freshwater systems. We therefore hypothesized that lifetime otolith Sr:Ca profiles of freshwater fish would exhibit low levels of Sr:Ca with moderate variability, of diadromous fish would exhibit highly variable Sr:Ca levels, and of marine fish would exhibit high levels of Sr:Ca with low variability. Otolith Sr:Ca profiles from 81 species of freshwater, diadromous, and marine fish revealed that freshwater fish had low levels of Sr:Ca and lower variability than expected relative to marine fish, diadromous fish had Sr:Ca levels and variability that were consistent with expectations, and marine fish had high maximum Sr:Ca levels, as expected, and high Sr:Ca variability, similar in magnitude to diadromous fish, which was not expected. These findings indicate that water Sr:Ca is the primary factor influencing otolith Sr:Ca variation for freshwater and diadromous fish but not for marine fish.