Assessing the use of two southwestern Atlantic estuaries by different life cycle stages of the anadromous catfish Genidens barbus (Lacépède, 1803) as revealed by Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca ratios in otoliths

AVIGLIANO,E., ; VELASCO G.; VOLPEDO AV

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ICHTHYOLOGY-ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ANGEWANDTE ICHTHYOLOGIE

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2015 p. 1 - 4

0175-8659

The objective of this study was to asses the long-term patterns of estuarine and estuarine-to-continental shelf use by G. barbus in two estuaries in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, using Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca ratios in otoliths. The otoliths were rinsed with Milli-Q water and dried prior to the laser ablation ICP-MS analysis. G. barbus showed high plasticity in its displacement patterns in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Present results suggest the occurrence of different fish groups in that area, each one with a particular migratory behavior: some specimens may undertake large migrations between the estuaries and the platform while others may have higher degree of estuarine dependence. Such plasticity may be influenced by the environmental conditions and food availability in the different areas frequented by the species.