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Fundulus grandis Otolith Microchemistry as a Metric of Estuarine Discrimination and Oil Exposure

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Abstract

The Gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis, is a vital component of saltmarsh ecosystems and an indicator species for environmental impacts, because of strong site fidelity. Also, their otoliths can provide a record of environmental conditions because they are metabolically inert, grow continuously with the fish, and incorporate trace elements from the environment. We used laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to determine chemical composition differences in Gulf killifish otoliths across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Fish collections started in fall 2012 and continued through summer 2013. Concentrations of Mn, Sr, and Ba varied among sites and allowed for discrimination of fish between estuaries in Louisiana (elevated Ba concentrations) and the west side of Mobile Bay, Alabama (elevated Mn concentrations). However, elemental signatures of otoliths from Mississippi, Florida, and the east side of Alabama could not be discriminated from one another. Regional differences in otolith elemental signatures in Louisiana and west Alabama appear to provide unique chemical tags for these waters and, thus, may have utility for nursery habitat determination for species with estuarine-dependent juveniles. Otoliths of F. grandis that had been exposed to oil (either from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill or because of close proximity to an oil refinery) did not differ in elemental signature between paired oiled and non-oiled sites. Therefore, the otoliths did not contain trace metals associated with oil. Also, the relative condition of F. grandis did not differ between paired sites. The presence of F. grandis at all sites, the lack of effect of oiling on relative condition, and no signal of oil-related elements in the otoliths suggest minimal long-term impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on F. grandis.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Ash Bullard for the help with site selection and sampling protocol. We would also like to thank all of the people who helped with fish collections, Adrian Stanfill, Emily DeVries, Brooke Merrill, Carl Klimah, Jenny Herbig, Danielle Horn, Jay Foster, and Kyle Gallagher. Special thanks go to Tammy DeVries for spending countless hours pulling miniscule otoliths out of killifish and having to deal with strong H2O2 for cleaning purposes. Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Mohamed Shaheen of the University of Windsor GLIER for the help with the LA-ICP-MS. Funding for this research was provided by British Petroleum.

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  1. T. Reid Nelson

    Present address: University of South Alabama Marine Sciences, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, 101 Bienville Blvd, Dauphin Island, AL, 36528, USA

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  1. School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences, Auburn University, 203 Swingle Hall, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA

    T. Reid Nelson, Dennis R. DeVries & Russell A. Wright

  2. Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada

    Joel E. Gagnon

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Communicated by Lawrence P. Rozas

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Nelson, T.R., DeVries, D.R., Wright, R.A. et al. Fundulus grandis Otolith Microchemistry as a Metric of Estuarine Discrimination and Oil Exposure. Estuaries and Coasts 38, 2044–2058 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9934-y

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