View article

We tested whether estuarine fishes have site-specific differences in the concentrations of trace elements in their otoliths that can be used as ‘fingerprints’ to identify them to their estuary of origin. To evaluate the robustness of this approach, we tested whether elemental fingerprints were consistent among individuals of five species that were collected in 1996 from three temperate estuaries in southern California. We also tested whether elemental fingerprints were consistent between spring and autumn 1996 for three species in one of the sites, Carpinteria Marsh. The species evaluated comprised a mid-water-dwelling smelt (Atherinops affinis), two benthic gobies (Clevelandia ios and Ilypnus gilberti), and two flatfish (Paralichthys californicus and Hypsopsetta guttulata). The concentrations of six elements (Mn, Cu, Zn, Sr, Ba, and Pb) were determined in the otoliths using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry …