鱼类耳石元素指纹研究进展

Studies on Elemental Fingerprints in Otolith of Fish

耳石是沉积在真骨鱼类内耳中的一种矿物结构,其主要成分是碳酸盐.在鱼类的生活过程中,水环境中的化学元素经过代谢稳定地沉积在耳石上,由于生活水域化学环境的差异,鱼类耳石的元素组成或含量存在一定的差异,而使耳石上的元素指纹成为一种天然标志,记录了鱼类所经历的生态环境及其变化.耳石元素指纹研究主要包括同位素成分分析、锶钙比率研究(Sr/Ca)以及一些痕量元素分析等,这些可以用于鱼类种群识别、生活史研究、生活环境重建,以及高龄鱼的年龄鉴定,在鱼类生态学和渔业资源学研究中具有广泛的应用前景.

Otolith is a concretion in inner ear of teleostean and its main component is carbonate. Various chemical elements in water are absorbed into fish with different modes during life history of fish, and after a series metabolism the elements are stably deposited on otoliths, There are some differences in the components or contents of otolith elements of fish in the regions with different chemical environments. Elemental fingerprints in otolith might record the environmental condition and its varieties that fishes experience during their life process, and could be used as natural tags. The analysis of elemental fingerprints usually ineludes the measurement of isotope, Sr/Ca ratio and some trace elements in otolith, which have been used to discriminate different populations, study life history, reconstruct the environmental condition and determinate the age of some long life species. The analyses of elemental fingerprints in otolith will be broadly applied in fish ecology and fishery resource studies in the future. Ref 57