155 
Spatial and temporal variation in otolith chemistry 
for tautog ( Tautoga onitis ) in Narragansett Bay 
and Rhode Island coastal ponds 
Ivan Mateo (contact author ) 1 
Edward G. Durbin 2 
David A. Bengtson 1 
Richard Kingsley 2 
Peter K. Swart 3 
Daisy Durant 4 
Email address for contact author: imateo32@hotmail.com 
1 University of Rhode Island 
Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences 
Kingston, Rhode Island 02881 
2 University of Rhode Island 
Graduate School of Oceanography 
Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882 
3 Division of Marine Geology and Physics 
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences 
University of Miami 
Miami, Florida 33149 
4 Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve 
P.O. Box 151 
Prudence Island, Rhode Island 02872 
Abstract — The elemental composi- 
tion of otoliths may provide valuable 
information for establishing connec- 
tivity between fish nursery grounds 
and adult fish populations. Concen- 
trations of Rb, Mg, Ca, Mn, Sr, Na, 
K, Sr, Pb, and Ba were determined 
by using solution-based inductively 
coupled plasma mass spectrometry in 
otoliths of young-of-the year tautog 
(Tautoga onitis ) captured in nursery 
areas along the Rhode Island coast 
during two consecutive years. Stable 
oxygen (6 18 0) and carbon (<5 13 C) iso- 
topic ratios in young-of-the year oto- 
liths were also analyzed with isotope 
ratio mass spectrometry. Chemical 
signatures differed significantly 
among the distinct nurseries within 
Narragansett Bay and the coastal 
ponds across years. Significant dif- 
ferences were also observed within 
nurseries from year to year. Classi- 
fication accuracy to each of the five 
tautog nursery areas ranged from 85% 
to 92% across years. Because accu- 
rate classification of juvenile tautog 
nursery sites was achieved, otolith 
chemistry can potentially be used as 
a natural habitat tag. 
Manuscript submitted 16 June 2009. 
Manuscript accepted 14 December 2009. 
Fish. Bull. 108:155-161 (2010). 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National Marine 
Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
The dependence of fish production 
and population dynamics on disper- 
sal and migration among multiple 
habitats, referred to as “connectiv- 
ity,” is a critical property of marine 
populations. Connectivity rates deter- 
mine colonization patterns for new 
habitats, the resiliency of popula- 
tions to harvest, and can be used in 
the design of marine protected areas 
(MPAs). Quantifying connectivity 
rates in marine organisms is, how- 
ever, extremely difficult because the 
natal and nursery origins of adults are 
almost unknown. Recently, tagging 
techniques with natural isotopic and 
elemental markers have been devel- 
oped for species that were not able to 
be tagged or recaptured by conven- 
tional approaches. Chemical natural 
habitat tags in the otoliths of juvenile 
fish have been used to differentiate 
individuals from different estuarine 
and riverine systems (Thorrold et al., 
1998a; Thorrold et al., 1998b; Gilland- 
ers and Kingsford, 2000; Gillanders, 
2002b) and other types of nearshore 
habitats, such as estuary as opposed 
to rocky reef (Gillanders and Kings- 
ford, 1996) and estuary as opposed to 
exposed coastal habitats (Yamashita 
et al., 2000; Forrester and Swearer, 
2002). In addition, through chemical 
analysis of the juvenile core region of 
adult otoliths, natural habitat tags 
have been used to determine the pro- 
portion of the adult population that 
resided in different juvenile habitats 
(Yamashita et al., 2000; Thorrold et 
al., 2001; Gillanders, 2002a). 
The tautog (Tautoga onitis ) is an 
economically and ecologically impor- 
tant species found in the waters of 
eastern North America from the Gulf 
of Maine to North Carolina. Juvenile 
tautog are known to depend on shal- 
low water habitats where they are 
safe from high levels of predation 
and can find necessary food resourc- 
es (Dorf and Powell, 1997; Arendt, 
1999). However, the relative impor- 
tance of open coastline and enclosed 
bays and lagoons as nursery habitat 
for tautog is still poorly understood 
(Sogard et al., 1992). In light of the 
fact that the northeastern coast of 
the United States has experienced a 
major loss of its estuarine habitats 
