Scale microchemistry as a tool to investigate the origin of wild and farmed Salmo salar

Atlantic salmon Salmo salar are extensively farmed throughout their natural range, and unintentional interactions between farmed fish and wild populations have been implicated in the decline of wild salmon. The trace element composition of salmon scales distinguishes wild from farmed fish, and poten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Ecology Progress Series
Main Authors: Adey, Liz, Black, Kenny, Sawyer, Terrie T, Shimmield, Tracy, Trueman, C N
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2009
Subjects:
ATLANTIC SALMON
Marine & Freshwater Biology
ELEMENTAL SIGNATURES
Oceanography
MASS-SPECTROMETRY
ELECTRON-MICROPROBE
PECTORAL FIN RAYS
Ecology
OTOLITH MICROCHEMISTRY
INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA
TRACE-METALS
BARRAMUNDI LATES-CALCARIFER
FISH
Atlantic salmon
Salmo salar
Online Access:https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/44616a72-2731-486b-ac07-c933699bd5fa
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08161
Description
Summary:Atlantic salmon Salmo salar are extensively farmed throughout their natural range, and unintentional interactions between farmed fish and wild populations have been implicated in the decline of wild salmon. The trace element composition of salmon scales distinguishes wild from farmed fish, and potentially provides a rapid and cheap method to assess the extent of escaped farmed fish within a wild population. Scale samples from wild and farmed fish from sites throughout Scotland were analysed for a large number of trace elements using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Discriminant function analysis of the resulting data classified wild and farmed fish with 98% accuracy. Mn is identified as the element contributing most to the dissimilarity between wild and farmed fish, with scales from farmed fish yielding significantly higher concentrations of Mn. Scale chemistry also differed between farms. 87% of samples taken from six farm sites around the west coast of Scotland were correctly classified to their farm of origin, Scale chemistry provides a powerful tool to determine the origin of S. salar, despite the potential for post-depositional change in elemental concentrations of scale bioapatite.

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