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Can Otolith Microchemistry Reveal Whether the Blind Cave Gudgeon, Milyeringa veritas (Eleotridae), is Diadromous within a Subterranean Estuary?

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The blind cavefish, Milyeringa veritas, inhabits an anchialine system, effectively a groundwater estuary, in which salinity varies between fresh and seawater at different locations and depths. Owing to the inaccessible habitat and the threatened status of the cavefish it is hard to obtain the biological information needed for their management. This paper explores the utility of otolith Sr:Ca ratio in elucidating cavefish biology. The mean Sr:Ca ratio of the water inhabited by the cavefish is correlated with both the TDS (total dissolved solids) of the habitat and with the Sr:Ca ratio of the sagittal otolith of the cavefish inhabiting that site. Mean values of Sr:Ca in otoliths suggest some cavefish inhabit sea or brackish waters while others remain in freshwater. Some individuals appear to move between waters of very different TDS at various stages but there is no consistency in the direction or apparent TDS range of the water bodies inhabited which indicates that the cavefish utilise the different water bodies opportunistically. Residual analyses indicate clear and routine changes in the TDS of the water occupied at various phases of growth, irrespective of the TDS at which the cavefish were sampled. Annular markings are present in some otoliths but they cannot be related to likely periodicities in the subterranean environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, WA 6986, Welshpool, DC, Australia

    W. F. Humphreys

  2. Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Nankang, 115, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Jen-Chieh Shiao

  3. Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Nankang, 115, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Yoshiyuki Iizuka

  4. Institute of Fisheries Science, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Wann-Nian Tzeng

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  1. W. F. Humphreys
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  2. Jen-Chieh Shiao
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  3. Yoshiyuki Iizuka
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  4. Wann-Nian Tzeng
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Correspondence to W. F. Humphreys.

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Humphreys, W.F., Shiao, JC., Iizuka, Y. et al. Can Otolith Microchemistry Reveal Whether the Blind Cave Gudgeon, Milyeringa veritas (Eleotridae), is Diadromous within a Subterranean Estuary?. Environ Biol Fish 75, 439–453 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-006-0012-6

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