Distribution of otoliths in surficial sediments of the U.S. Atlantic Continental Shelf and slope and potential for reconstructing Holocene fish stocks

Abstract

We examined more than 1100 surface sediment samples from the Atlantic continental margin of the United States to determine the feasibility of using fossil fish otoliths as diagnostic tools in reconstructing paleoenvironments and latitudinal distribution of fish stocks during the Holocene. Although 63% of the 1107 samples collected were from shelf areas (<140 m), the total number of shelf‐derived otoliths represents only 0.3% of the entire sampled assemblage. The majority of otoliths occurred on the continental slope (400‐2000 m), with a maximum concentration in sediments at 500 to 600‐m water depth. Otoliths of the most commonly occurring species, Ceratoscopelus maderensis, exhibit a marked distributional boundary just south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (33°N), which mimics the distribution of their living counterparts. North of this boundary, C. maderensis constitutes greater than 70% of the preserved otolith assemblage, whereas more southerly regions contain no otoliths of this species. Although C. maderensis typically migrates diurnally over a depth of 300‐600 m, otoliths taken from live‐captured C. maderensis exhibit Δ14C values comparable to that of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) of surface seawater in the study area. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon analyses of cooccurring otoliths and planktonic foraminifera from a sediment core collected south of Martha’s Vineyard (40°15′N 70°51′W, 265 m) demonstrate temporal concordance throughout the Holocene. Otoliths appear to be viable, underutilized paleoceanographic tools. Specimens are found in sufficient abundance to permit temporal reconstructions of the distribution of C. maderensis and potentially several other icthyospecies along the U.S. Atlantic continental margin.