Identification of riverine, estuarine, and coastal contingents of Hudson River striped bass based upon otolith elemental fingerprints

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 211:245-253 (2001) - doi:10.3354/meps211245 Identification of riverine, estuarine, and coastal contingents of Hudson River striped bass based upon otolith elemental fingerprints David H. Secor1,*, Jay R. Rooker2, Erik Zlokovitz3, Vincent S. Zdanowicz4 1Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, PO Box 38, Solomons, Maryland 20688-0038, USA 2Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University, PO Box 1675, Galveston, Texas 77553, USA 3Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Matapeake Terminal, 301 Marine Academy Drive, Stevensville, Maryland 21666, USA 4National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory, Highlands, New Jersey 07732, USA *E-mail: secor@cbl.umces.edu ABSTRACT: Elemental fingerprints of otoliths from Hudson River striped bass Morone saxatilis were used to define resident, estuarine, and ocean migratory contingents, which had previously been determined by otolith microprobe analysis of Sr:Ca. Using solution-based inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry, 7 metals were quantified in whole otoliths. Discriminant analysis of elements showed a high degree of separation among the 3 migratory contingents. Barium was significantly higher in otoliths from the freshwater resident group, while Sr and Na were significantly lower in comparison to mesohaline and ocean contingents. Identification of contingents by the bulk chemistry method indicated that divergent migratory patterns persist over lifetimes for Hudson River striped bass. KEY WORDS: Hudson River · Striped bass · Anadromy · Migration · Otolith microchemistry · Strontium · Elemental fingerprint Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 211. Online publication date: February 14, 2001 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2001 Inter-Research.