To glue or not to glue? Reassembling broken otoliths for population discrimination

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Bardarson, H., McAdam, B. J., Petursdottir, G., Marteinsdottir, G.
• Other Authors: Rannís, Icelandic Research Fund, Verkefnasjóður Sjávarútvegsins
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2014
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; atlantic cod; Gadus morhua
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12390; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fjfb.12390; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jfb.12390

Twenty‐five Atlantic cod Gadus morhua otoliths were examined using eight shape measurements along with Fourier analysis of their outlines to test whether discrimination using otolith shape is affected by gluing broken otoliths. Small differences in seven of the eight shape measurements were found between unbroken otoliths and the same otoliths after breaking and subsequently gluing together; however, none of the Fourier descriptors differed. Cluster analyses indicated that resultant morphological differences will have no impact when applying discriminant analysis.