water Article Otolith Fingerprints and Tissue Stable Isotope Information Enable Allocation of Juvenile Fishes to Different Nursery Areas Dario Vrdoljak 1, Sanja Mati´c-Skoko 1,* , Melita Peharda 2, Hana Uvanovi´c 2 , Krešimir Markulin 3, Regina Mertz-Kraus 4 and Peter Grønkjær 5 1 Laboratory of Ichthyology and Coastal Fisheries, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštovi´ca63, 21000 Split, Croatia;
[email protected] 2 Laboratory of Fisheries Science and Management of Pelagic and Demersal Resources, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštovi´ca63, 21000 Split, Croatia;
[email protected] (M.P.);
[email protected] (H.U.) 3 Laboratory of Chemical Oceanography and Sedimentology of the Sea, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštovi´ca63, 21000 Split, Croatia;
[email protected] 4 Institute for Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, SaarstraBe 21, 55131 Mainz, Germany;
[email protected] 5 Department of Bioscience, Ny Munkegade 114, 1540 Building, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Integrated otolith chemistry and muscle tissue stable isotope analyses were performed to allocate juvenile Diplodus puntazzo and Diplodus vulgaris to nurseries in the Adriatic Sea. Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was used to quantify the concentrations of chemical elements in the otoliths. Fish muscle samples were analysed for δ13C and Citation: Vrdoljak, D.; Mati´c-Skoko, δ15N. In general, Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios and isotopes varied between sites and species. Values of S.; Peharda, M.; Uvanovi´c,H.; 13 15 Markulin, K.; Mertz-Kraus, R.; δ C and δ N were significantly different between species and sites.