Otolith Microstructural Organization in the South Georgia Icefish Pseudochaenichthys georgianus (Channichthyide) and Cautious Considerations on How Otoliths Can Provide Clues on a Species' Distribution and Migration in Antarctic Waters

• Published in: Ocean and polar research Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 39 - 59
• Main Authors: Traczyk, Ryszard, Meyer-Rochow, Victor Benno
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: ageing analyses; ear stones; life stages; aragonite; morpho-functionality; vaterite; antarctica
• ISSN: 1598-141X

How in the Antarctic icefish, generally, and Pseudochaenichthys georgianus, in particular, otoliths increase in size and build new material as the fish ages and passes through different life phases is largely unexplored. Morphometric details of 3418 otoliths of Ps. georgianus from S. Georgia and 318 from S. Shetland, were processed and proportions of the amounts of collagen and aragonite removed by EDTA were determined for different age groups. Microstructural investigations showed that characteristics of the 3-dimensinal collagen net are the reason for the radial direction and orientation of the aragonite needles of approximately 1.0 ㎛ in length in larval and 2.3 ㎛ in length in adult specimens. Earlier generated increment layers from the primordial centre (PC) in the dorsal direction restrict those of the secondary centre (SC), causing new growth layer accretion in different directions. In the otoliths of larval Ps. georgianus, aragonite layers are 0.89 ㎛ wide while in juveniles and adults they measure 1.45-2.86 ㎛. Otoliths change from a sphere shape in the larvae to a longish object of irregular outline in the older stages. It is tentaively suggested that the observed otolith shape differences at distinct growth stages are due to physical effects related to swimming speeds at particular water depths and locations. To confirm that otoliths, apart from being useful for age analyses, could also serve to establish correlations between developmental stage and the oceanic environment the fish spend time in, further analyses using additional species and state-of-the-art methods like µCT imaging to evaluate otolith volumes and shapes are required.