Otolith chemistry serves as a useful way of evaluating fish populations because the trace elements found in the otolith correspond with the trace elements in the water which the fish is living and therefore analysis of these trace elements can be used to determine a fish's point of origin. The technique currently used to analyze otoliths is inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This work explores the possible use of neutron activation analysis (NAA) as an alternative to ICP-MS.  If possible, NAA offers the advantage that the sample does not need to be acid digested prior to analysis because NAA is able to obtain just as accurate results as ICP-MS with lower amounts of sample preparation required.  Preliminary results on the Sr/Ca ratios of sample otoliths obtainied from Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island as well as on otolith standards indicate that measured Sr/Ca ratios reflect site specificity.

Analysis of Sr/Ca ratio in fish otolith bones using the technique of neutron activation analysis

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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