Abstract
The red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) is among the most studied reef fish species in the Gulf of Mexico. Several studies have used counts of annuli in sectioned sagittal otoliths to age red snapper. However, interpretation of the putative first annulus has been a major source of debate among otolith readers throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Our objective was to use the chemical marker alizarin complexone to validate the periodicity of first opaque annulus formation in red snapper otolith sections. Juvenile red snapper were immersed in 100 mg alizarin complexone per L seawater solution in November 2005 and then reared in 6000 l circular tanks until July 2006. Otoliths were then removed from the fish and thin sectioned. All experimental otolith sections displayed a distinct fluorescent mark ranging from 0.62 to 0.96 mm from the core when viewed under the microscope with a rhodamine filter. The diffuse opaque annulus was located distally to the alizarin mark in all specimens (ranging from 0.88 to 1.51 mm). The distal position of the presumptive first annulus relative to the alizarin mark in all specimens indicates that this diffuse opaque annulus in red snapper sectioned otoliths forms during the first winter after hatching. Translucent marginal edges of all otolith sections indicate that first opaque annulus formation is completed by mid-July.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank R. J. David Wells for providing juvenile red snapper samples for this study. We would like to thank Dave L. Nieland as well as two anonymous reviewers for their reviews of this manuscript. We would also like to thank Matthew Brown and Cindy Henk from the Louisiana State University Socolofsky Microscopy Center. Funding for this research was provided by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries through the Sport Fish Restoration Grant F-97 “Stock Assessment of Louisiana’s Important Marine Finfishes.”
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Fischer, A.J., Chesney, E.J. & Cowan, J.H. Validation of first annulus formation in red snapper otoliths with the use of an alizarin complexone fluorescent marker. Environ Biol Fish 89, 313–317 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9682-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9682-1