Unsupervised estimation of the age at sea departure of Atlantic salmon using magnesium, manganese, and zinc otolith chemistry

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Fontaine, Anthony, Vignon, Matthias, Tabouret, Hélène, Pécheyran, Christophe, Bareille, Gilles
• Other Authors: Institut des sciences analytiques et de physico-chimie pour l'environnement et les materiaux (IPREM), Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA)-Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ecologie Comportementale et Biologie des Populations de Poissons (ECOBIOP), Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: chemical calendar-clock; functional clustering; migration; Salmo salar; [CHIM.MATE]Chemical Sciences/Material chemistry; [CHIM.ANAL]Chemical Sciences/Analytical chemistry; [CHIM.POLY]Chemical Sciences/Polymers; [CHIM.THEO]Chemical Sciences/Theoretical and/or physical chemistry; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://univ-pau.hal.science/hal-04621470; https://univ-pau.hal.science/hal-04621470/document; https://univ-pau.hal.science/hal-04621470/file/Fontaine%20et%20al_2024_JFB.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15829

International audience Investigating the age at sea departure of returning Atlantic salmon is critical to better understand the role of emigration timing in survival. Among the methods available, the use of otolith chemistry can be challenging in anadromous fish, as the elements frequently used (i.e., magnesium, manganese, and zinc) can jointly reflect individual metabolism and environmental conditions. Here, we present a new unsupervised and robust method for successfully estimating the outmigration age of Atlantic salmon in the Bay of Biscay, based on otolith zinc concentrations.