Abstracts
Otoliths are calcium carbonate structures located in the inner ear of fish; they are responsible for hearing and balance. The inner ear has three pairs of otoliths: the lapilli, the sagittae and the asterisci. The sagittae otoliths are the largest and their format is species-specific. Because of their composition, otoliths can resist to the digestive tract of ichthyophagous species, and they can be used as an important tool for identifying species of fish found in stomach contents. The purpose of this work is to provide a photographic guide of the sagittae otoliths of the main fish species from the Sinos River. This atlas consists of photographs of the sagittae otoliths of 36 species belonging to 15 families distributed in five orders.
photographic guide; sagittae; identification
Otólitos são estruturas formadas por cristais de carbonato de cálcio, localizadas no labirinto do ouvido interno dos peixes. São responsáveis pela audição e pelo equilíbrio. O ouvido interno possui três pares de otólitos, os lapilli, os sagittae e os asterisci. Os denominados sagittae são os maiores e seu formato é espécie-específico. Devido a sua composição os otólitos conseguem resistir ao trato digestivo das espécies ictiófagas, dessa maneira podem ser empregados como uma importante ferramenta para a identificação de espécies de peixes em trabalhos com conteúdos estomacais. O objetivo deste trabalho é a disponibilização de uma referência visual dos otólitos sagittae das principais espécies de peixes do Rio dos Sinos, para que possam servir de base para trabalhos com conteúdos estomacais de espécies ictiófagas. Este atlas é composto de fotografias dos otólitos sagittae de 36 espécies de 15 famílias distribuídas em cinco ordens.
guia fotográfico; sagittae ; identificação
1. Introduction
Otoliths are paired structures composed of organic matter and calcium
carbonate crystals, especially in the form of aragonite. These structures are
located in the membranous labyrinth in the inner ear of fishes and are responsible
for sound detection and maintenance of balance (Lecomte-Finiger, 1999LECOMTE-FINIGER, R., 1999. L'otolithe : la « boìte
noire » des Téléostéens. L'Annee Biologique, vol. 38,
no. 2, p. 107-122.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-5017(99)80029-4.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-5017(99)...
; García et
al., 2004GARCÍA, MRH., PÉREZ, JAM., LÓPEZ, TAB. and
RODRÍGUEZ, JMR., 2004. Descripción morfológica de los
otólitos de las familias Engraulidae, Haemulidae y Achiridae del sistema
estuarino de Tecolutla. Veracruz. Revista de Zoología, vol. 15, p.
7-13.; Payan et al., 2004PAYAN, P., DE PONTUAL, H., BOEUF, G. and MAYER-GOSTAN, N., 2004.
Endolymph chemistry and otolith growth in fish. Comptes Rendus Palevol, vol. 3,
no. 6-7, p. 535-547.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2004.07.013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2004.07...
;
Popper et al., 2005POPPER, AN., RAMCHARITAR, J. and CAMPANA, SE., 2005. Why otoliths?
Insights from inner ear physiology and fisheries biology. Marine &
Freshwater Research, vol. 56, no. 5, p. 497-504.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MF04267.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MF04267...
).
The inner ear consists of three pairs of chambers, each containing an
otolith. The otolith called lapilli occupies the utricular
vestibule, the sagittae occupies the saccular and the
asterisci the lagenar vestibule (Secor et al., 1991SECOR, DH., DEAN, JM. and LABAN, EH., 1991. Manual for otolith
removal and preparation for microstructural examination. Columbia: Electric
Power Research Institute and Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and
Coastal Research. 85 p.; Gomiero and
Braga, 2007GOMIERO, LM. and BRAGA, FMS., 2007. Descrição dos
otólitos de tucunarés (Cichla sp. e Cichla monoculus) no
reservatório da hidrelétrica de Volta Grande (SP-MG).
Ciência Animal Brasileira, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 119-126.). Each pair is different in shape and appearance, and in
most adult fish the sagittae are larger and have the largest
morpholigical variability (Campana,
2004CAMPANA, SE., 2004. Photographic atlas of fish otoliths of the
Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Ottawa: NRC Research Press. 284 p.; Tuset et al., 2008TUSET, VM., LOMBARTE, A. and ASSIS, CA., 2008. Otolith atlas for the
western Mediterranean, north and central eastern Atlantic. Scientia Marina, vol.
72, no. S1, p. 7-198.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2008.72s17.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2008.72...
).
Otoliths are formed from a primordial secreted by the inner ear, and are
usually the first calcified structure formed during ontogenesis (Morales-Nin, 2000MORALES-NIN, B., 2000. Review of the growth regulation processes of
otolith daily increment formation. Fisheries Research, vol. 46, no. 1-3, p.
53-67.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(00)00133-8.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(00)...
; Wright et al., 2002).
The formation involves rhythmic variations in the deposition and size of the organic
matrix fibre, which results in the formation of concentric layers of variable
thickness (Morales-Nin, 2000MORALES-NIN, B., 2000. Review of the growth regulation processes of
otolith daily increment formation. Fisheries Research, vol. 46, no. 1-3, p.
53-67.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(00)00133-8.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(00)...
).
These layers alternate in opaque and hyaline layers, representing periods of fast
growth and slow growth, respectively; in temperate zones a pair of these layers
consists of a year, and this set of layers is called annulus, and
it is used for the age determination in years (Wright et al., 2002).
The characteristics, shape and growth pattern of otoliths are highly
species specific and very similar between individuals (Frost, 1981FROST, KJ., 1981. Descriptive key to the otoliths of gadid fishes of
the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. Artic, vol. 34, no. 1, p.
55-59.; Hunt, 1992HUNT, JJ., 1992. Morphological characteristics of otolith for
selected fish in the northwest Atlantic. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery
Science, vol. 13, p. 63-75.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2960/J.v13.a5.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2960/J.v13.a5...
;
Anguirre and Lombarte, 1999ANGUIRRE, H. and LOMBARTE, A., 1999. Ecomorphological comparisons of
sagittae in Mullus barbatus and M. surmuletus. Journal of Fish Biology, vol. 55,
no. 1, p. 105-114.). Their
chemical composition and microstructure are directly related to environmental
conditions, so in addition to the identification of different species it is possible
to differentiate between stocks (Lecomte-Finiger, 1999LECOMTE-FINIGER, R., 1999. L'otolithe : la « boìte
noire » des Téléostéens. L'Annee Biologique, vol. 38,
no. 2, p. 107-122.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-5017(99)80029-4.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-5017(99)...
).
Furthermore, otoliths can resist the passage through the digestive tract of ichthyophagous species because of their low degradability. Thus they have been used as an important tool for studies of stomach contents (Frost, 1981FROST, KJ., 1981. Descriptive key to the otoliths of gadid fishes of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. Artic, vol. 34, no. 1, p. 55-59.; Gomiero and Braga, 2007GOMIERO, LM. and BRAGA, FMS., 2007. Descrição dos otólitos de tucunarés (Cichla sp. e Cichla monoculus) no reservatório da hidrelétrica de Volta Grande (SP-MG). Ciência Animal Brasileira, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 119-126.).
In Brazil there are only otolith catalogs of marine fish, such the work of Correa and Vianna that in 1992/93 described the otoliths of the family Scianidae from the coast of Paraná. The same study lists only five previous studies of isolated morphological descriptions. In 1995 Lemos et al. (1995aLEMOS, PHB., CORRÊA, MFM. and PINHEIRO, PC., 1995a. Catálogo de otólitos de Engraulidae (Clupeiformes- Osteichthyes) do litoral do Paraná, Brasil. Arquivos Biológicos Tecnológicos, vol. 38, no. 3, p. 731-745., b)LEMOS, PHB., CORRÊA, MFM. and PINHEIRO, PC., 1995b. Catálogo de otólitos de Cupleidae (Clupeiformes- Osteichthyes) do litoral do Paraná, Brasil. Arquivos Biológicos Tecnológicos, vol. 38, no. 3, p. 747-759., published two catalogs, which describe the otoliths of the family Engraulidade and Cupleidae, both of the coast of Paraná.
The purpose of this work is to provide a photographic guide of the sagittae otoliths of the most common fish species from the Sinos river. The intention is to provide a visual reference which may serve as basis for studies of stomach contents of ichthyophagous species.
2. Materials and Methods
The fish used in this investigation were sampled in different projects of the Laboratory of Fish Ecology - UNISINOS. All the fish were captured in the Sinos River by electrofishing or gill nets (meshes 15 mm to 60 mm) between the years of 2006 and 2007. All individuals were measured (standard length, SL), weighed and stored on ice until the removal of otoliths. Only the pair of sagittae was removed.
After removal, the otoliths were washed in water and stored in glass tubes that had remained open for about 15 days to ensure that the otoliths completely dried.
Otoliths were measured (otolith length - OL) and photographed in pairs in a way that both sides were visible. The photographs were taken with a Leica Stereo Macroscope attached to a video camera, connected to a computer with the image analysis program Leica Application Suite v3.7.
3. Results
In this work we photographed the otoliths of 36 species from 15 families distributed in five orders. Four of these species do not belong to the native fish community of the Sinos river basin. Two are exotic (Micropterus salmoides and Orechromis niloticus), one is invasive (Pachyurus bonariensis) and another one allochthonous (Piaractus mesopotamicus) (Leal et al., 2009LEAL, ME., BREMM, CQ. and SCHULZ, UH., 2009. Lista da ictiocenose da bacia do Rio dos Sinos, Sul do Brasil. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca, vol. 35, p. 307-317.).
Characiformes
Sagitta otoliths of Leporinus obtusidens (Valenciennes, 1837) (Fish Length= 18 cm; Otolith Length=2.6 mm).
Curimatidae (Figure 11)
Erythrinidae (Figure 12)
Prochilodontidae (Figure 13)
Sagitta otoliths of Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1837) (FL= 29.5 cm; OL= 4.66 mm).
Clupeiformes
Engraulididae (Figure 14)
Sagitta otoliths of Lycengraulis grossidens (Spix & Agassiz, 1829) (FL= 18 cm; OL= 4.64 mm).
Gymnotiformes
Gymnotidae (Figure 15)
Perciformes
Centrarchidae (Figure 16)
Sagitta otoliths of Geophagus brasiliensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) (FL= 7.4 cm; OL= 3.13 mm).
Sciaenidae (Figure 25)
Siluriformes
Heptapteridae (Figure 29 and 30)
Sagitta otoliths of Hemiancistrus punctulatus (Cardoso & Malabarba, 1999) (FL= 20.4 cm; OL= 1.39 mm).
Sagitta otoliths of Hypostomus commersoni (Valenciennes, 1836) (FL= 11.7 cm; OL= 1.17 mm).
Sagitta otoliths of Loricariichthys anus (Valenciennes, 1835) (FL= 38.4 cm; OL= 2.97 mm).
Pimelodidae (Figure 34 and 35)
Sagitta otoliths of Parapimelodus nigribarbis (Boulenger, 1889) (FL= 12.7 cm; OL= 2.71 mm).
Synbranchiformes
Synbranchidae (Figure 36)
4. Discussion
As reported by Torno (1976)TORNO, MF., 1976. Descripción e comparación de los otolitos de algunas familias de peces de la plataforma Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. Bernardino Rivadavia, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 25-44. species of the same genus may have very similar otoliths. In this study it was shown that Gymnogeophagus gymnogenys and G. labiatus and also Crenicichla lepidota and C. puntacta have otoliths that are almost not differentiable.
When considering families, it was possible to identify common features in their morphology. In the families Cichlidae and Characidae, for example, the shape of otolith is very similar in all species. Corrêa and Vianna (1992/93) reported the existence of such common features within families, characteristics like common shape, location of the sulcus, form of the ostium and otolith tail.
When using otoliths for species identification it should be remembered that the shape and size of the otolith may differ in different life stages of individuals. Most larval stages do not display a specific shape. The final shape is defined only in the juvenile stage (Campana, 2004CAMPANA, SE., 2004. Photographic atlas of fish otoliths of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Ottawa: NRC Research Press. 284 p.).
The similarity of otolith shape may impede the exact identification of
species in some cases (Tuset et al.,
2008TUSET, VM., LOMBARTE, A. and ASSIS, CA., 2008. Otolith atlas for the
western Mediterranean, north and central eastern Atlantic. Scientia Marina, vol.
72, no. S1, p. 7-198.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2008.72s17.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2008.72...
). However, with this atlas it may be possible to have a handy
visual reference for an easy identification of the diet of ichthyophagous species of
the Sinos river and also adjacent basins with similar fish assemblies.
References
- ANGUIRRE, H. and LOMBARTE, A., 1999. Ecomorphological comparisons of sagittae in Mullus barbatus and M. surmuletus. Journal of Fish Biology, vol. 55, no. 1, p. 105-114.
- CAMPANA, SE., 2004. Photographic atlas of fish otoliths of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Ottawa: NRC Research Press. 284 p.
- CORRÊA, MFM. and VIANNA, MS., 1992/93. Catálogo de otólitos de Scianidae (Osteichthyes- Perciformes) do litoral do Estado do Paraná. Nerítica, vol. 7, no. 1-2, p. 109-117.
- FROST, KJ., 1981. Descriptive key to the otoliths of gadid fishes of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. Artic, vol. 34, no. 1, p. 55-59.
- GARCÍA, MRH., PÉREZ, JAM., LÓPEZ, TAB. and RODRÍGUEZ, JMR., 2004. Descripción morfológica de los otólitos de las familias Engraulidae, Haemulidae y Achiridae del sistema estuarino de Tecolutla. Veracruz. Revista de Zoología, vol. 15, p. 7-13.
- GOMIERO, LM. and BRAGA, FMS., 2007. Descrição dos otólitos de tucunarés (Cichla sp. e Cichla monoculus) no reservatório da hidrelétrica de Volta Grande (SP-MG). Ciência Animal Brasileira, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 119-126.
- HUNT, JJ., 1992. Morphological characteristics of otolith for selected fish in the northwest Atlantic. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science, vol. 13, p. 63-75. http://dx.doi.org/10.2960/J.v13.a5.
» http://dx.doi.org/10.2960/J.v13.a5 - LEAL, ME., BREMM, CQ. and SCHULZ, UH., 2009. Lista da ictiocenose da bacia do Rio dos Sinos, Sul do Brasil. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca, vol. 35, p. 307-317.
- LECOMTE-FINIGER, R., 1999. L'otolithe : la « boìte noire » des Téléostéens. L'Annee Biologique, vol. 38, no. 2, p. 107-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-5017(99)80029-4.
» http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-5017(99)80029-4 - LEMOS, PHB., CORRÊA, MFM. and PINHEIRO, PC., 1995a. Catálogo de otólitos de Engraulidae (Clupeiformes- Osteichthyes) do litoral do Paraná, Brasil. Arquivos Biológicos Tecnológicos, vol. 38, no. 3, p. 731-745.
- LEMOS, PHB., CORRÊA, MFM. and PINHEIRO, PC., 1995b. Catálogo de otólitos de Cupleidae (Clupeiformes- Osteichthyes) do litoral do Paraná, Brasil. Arquivos Biológicos Tecnológicos, vol. 38, no. 3, p. 747-759.
- MORALES-NIN, B., 2000. Review of the growth regulation processes of otolith daily increment formation. Fisheries Research, vol. 46, no. 1-3, p. 53-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(00)00133-8.
» http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-7836(00)00133-8 - PAYAN, P., DE PONTUAL, H., BOEUF, G. and MAYER-GOSTAN, N., 2004. Endolymph chemistry and otolith growth in fish. Comptes Rendus Palevol, vol. 3, no. 6-7, p. 535-547. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2004.07.013.
» http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2004.07.013 - POPPER, AN., RAMCHARITAR, J. and CAMPANA, SE., 2005. Why otoliths? Insights from inner ear physiology and fisheries biology. Marine & Freshwater Research, vol. 56, no. 5, p. 497-504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MF04267.
» http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MF04267 - SECOR, DH., DEAN, JM. and LABAN, EH., 1991. Manual for otolith removal and preparation for microstructural examination. Columbia: Electric Power Research Institute and Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research. 85 p.
- TORNO, MF., 1976. Descripción e comparación de los otolitos de algunas familias de peces de la plataforma Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. Bernardino Rivadavia, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 25-44.
- TUSET, VM., LOMBARTE, A. and ASSIS, CA., 2008. Otolith atlas for the western Mediterranean, north and central eastern Atlantic. Scientia Marina, vol. 72, no. S1, p. 7-198. http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2008.72s17.
» http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2008.72s17 - WRIGHT, PJ., PANFILI, J., MORALES-NIN, B. and GEFFEN, J.,2002. Types of calcified structures: Otoliths. In PANFILI, J., PONTUAL, H., TROADEC, H. and WRIGHT, PJ. (Ed.). Manual of fish sclerochronology. Brest: Ifremer-ird, p. 31-57.
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
May 2014
History
-
Received
29 June 2012 -
Accepted
26 Feb 2013