Population structure and ontogenetic habitat use of Micropogonias furnieri in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean inferred by otolith chemistry

AVIGLIANO, ESTEBAN; NADIA M. ALVES; M. RITA RICO; CLAUDIO O. RUARTE; LUCIANA DATRI; ANA MÉNDEZ; JORGE PISONERO; ALEJANDRA V. VOLPEDO; CLAUDIA BORSTELMANN

FISHERIES RESEARCH

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2021

0165-7836

The whitemouth croaker Micropogonias furnieri is a demersal sciaenid fish widely distributed in Atlantic coasts and estuaries from Mexico to Argentina. In the South Atlantic (33°- 41°S), there are two stocks: Río de la Plata (RDP) and El Rincón (ER), respectively. Studies based on genetic, age and size structure data suggested that RDP stock would be composed of two different populations, one estuarine-dependent (estuarine type) and the other with oceanic spawning sites (oceanic type). The hypothesis of segregation between the estuarine and oceanic types, and between these and the ER stock was tested by using the otolith chemistry in the edge (adult stage) and core (early stage) of fish. Li/Ca, Na/Ca, Mn/Ca, Cu/Ca, Ba/Ca, and Pb/Ca ratios were determined by LA-ICP-MS. Several ratios were significantly different between sampling sites for edge and core (p