Salmon Otolith (IMAGE)
Caption
A cross-section of a salmon otolith, also known as a fish ear stone or fish ear bone. By measuring strontium isotope ratios in different layers of otoliths from salmon caught at sea, researchers from the universities of Utah, Washington and Alaska Fairbanks and the U.S. Geological Survey were able to determine not just the watershed, but a set of streams where the salmon hatched and grew before migrating downstream to the ocean. The new fish-tracking method may help pinpoint critical habitats for fish threatened by climate change, industrial development and overfishing.
Credit
Sean Brennan, University of Washington
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License
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