Potential of Otolith Microchemistry to Distinguish Nursery Areas of Salmon within River Simojoki

Viktor Finnäs, Erkki Jokikokko, Jan-Olof Lill, Yann Lahaye, Henry Hägerstrand, Kai Lindström

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

17 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Draining into the northern Baltic Sea, River Simojoki is an important spawning river for Atlantic salmon. The present study aimed to preliminary explore the potential of analysing the elemental composition of otoliths to distinguish the within-river nursery area of origin for salmon. Parr were sampled at three nursery areas in the river and smolts of unknown origin were sampled near the river mouth during the migration to the sea. The concentrations of multiple elements and the strontium 87Sr/ 86Sr isotopic ratio in the otoliths were analysed using single- and multi-collector laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, respectively. Based on the otolith elemental variables, parr could be reclassified to the sampled nursery areas using discriminant function analysis and random forest with a success rate of 53.3% and 63.3%, respectively. However, for parr sampled at the uppermost nursery area in the river, the success rates were 90% and 100%, respectively. Applying the classification models trained on the parr samples to determine which nursery area sampled smolt originated from was constrained by the limited sampling of parr, both in sample sizes and the coverage of the nursery areas found in the river.

Original languageEnglish
Article number332
Number of pages19
JournalFishes
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Jun 2023
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Potential of Otolith Microchemistry to Distinguish Nursery Areas of Salmon within River Simojoki'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this