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Fishery Bulletin 108(2) 
Sampling year 
Figure 2 
Variation in trace elements and stable isotopes concentrations measured in otoliths of young-of- 
the-year tautog ( Tautoga onitis ) collected in Rhode Island in 2005 and 2006. All trace element 
data (element/CaxlO 6 ) are ln(x+l) transformed. Rhode Island station codes are GP=Gaspee Point, 
MH = Mount Hope Bay, RS = Rose Island, PJ = Point Judith, lower pond, and CP= Charlestown 
Pond. 
Successful discrimination between estuarine nurs- 
eries in the present study was accomplished through 
otolith elemental fingerprints, fulfilling one of the re- 
quirements for their possible use as natural tags (Cam- 
pana et al., 2000). The estuarine nursery origin of 
juvenile tautog was accurately identified based on oto- 
lith elemental fingerprints and stable isotopes. Several 
methods based on laser ablation (Thorrold et al., 2001; 
Gillanders, 2002a) or micromilling techniques (Gil- 
landers and Kingsford, 1996; Gillanders, 2005; Brown, 
2006) could be used to determine elemental fingerprints 
found in the otolith cores of adult tautog for comparison 
with the juvenile estuarine fingerprints that we have 
established. We believe solution-based techniques are 
more suitable than microprobe techniques for analysis 
of tautog otolith elemental concentrations because 1) 
solution-based techniques tend to have higher sensitiv- 
ity, accuracy, and precision compared to microprobe 
