Marine Ecology Progress Series
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14941
copiedImproved method to investigate natal homing in marine fish with otolith chemistry
ABSTRACT:
Natal homing in fish is a crucial phenomenon that shapes the ecology and evolution of populations. The homing behavior of fish has been well studied in several species. However, research has focused on a limited number of fish species due to methodological constraints, whereby the methods are either too expensive or there are too few suitable species to which they could be applied. We propose a scheme to optimize the ‘otolith edge’ concept, followed by the establishment of a discriminant model based on the optimized elemental fingerprints as natural markers. We take small yellow croaker Larimichthys polyactis (Bleeker, 1877) as an example. A 10-row by 3-column laser spot lattice on the otolith edge was identified as the optimal arrangement, and then spawning individuals from the same cohort were identified using the discriminant model. Homing rates of small yellow croakers were as follows: 86% in Haizhou Bay, 71% in Lvsi, 17% in Zhoushan, and 28% in Dachen. The results show that the otolith fingerprint as a natural marker is feasible for fish homing studies, but the application of otolith elemental fingerprints requires strictly quantitative evaluation.
KEYWORDS
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Yi Zhang (Co-author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Zunlei Liu (Co-author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Yazhou Jiang (Corresponding Author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Linlin Yang (Co-author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Xingwei Yuan (Co-author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Shengfa Li (Co-author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Xiaodi Gao (Co-author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Xiaopeng Cheng (Co-author)
- East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, PR China
- Key Laboratory of East China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai 200090, PR China
Handling Editor:
Simon Pittman, Oxford, UK
Reviewers:
P. Morais, K. Limburg
Acknowledgements:
This work was financially supported by the Basic Research Fund for State-Level Nonprofit Research Institutes of ESCFRI, CAFS (#Dong2022TD01). We thank the fishing boat crews for their help in field sampling, and the members of the Key Laboratory of East China Sea and the Oceanic Fishery Resources Exploitation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, for constructive discussions and encouragement.