Otolith fingerprints reveal stock discrimination of Sperata seenghala inhabiting the Gangetic river system

• Published in: Ichthyological research Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 294 - 301
• Main Authors: Miyan, Kaish, Khan, Mohammad Afzal, Patel, Devendra Kumar, Khan, Shahista, Prasad, Satgur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.04.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Barium; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cadmium; Chromium; Ecology; Fish; Fish populations; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Life Sciences; Lithium; Magnesium; Manganese; Nickel; Otoliths; Rivers; Spectrometry; Strontium; Studies; Trace elements; Water analysis; Zoology; Ganges River; Asia, Ganga R; Stock discrimination; Otolith fingerprints
• ISSN: 1341-8998; 1616-3915
• DOI: 10.1007/s10228-015-0500-9

Variations in elemental concentrations of otoliths were used to study the probable stock(s) of Sperata seenghala in the Gangetic river system. Fifteen trace elements from whole sagittal otoliths were analysed using inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry. Strontium, barium, lithium, copper, iron, lead, zinc, manganese, nickel ( P  < 0.001) and magnesium ( P  < 0.01) differed significantly among locations, while no significant differences were noted for calcium, sodium and potassium ( P  > 0.01). Chromium and cadmium were not detected in the otoliths of the fish from Narora site on the river Ganga. Discriminant function analysis using cross-validation classification assigned individuals to their site of sampling origin with a mean classification accuracy of 83.2 %. The detected site-specific elemental differences in S. seenghala otoliths indicate a high level of site-fidelity in relation to their habitat areas. Thus target fish population from these sites can be regarded as separate stocks.