Marking fin spine of juvenile sturgeon (acipenseriformes: acipenseridae) using oxytetracycline and the comparing of growth performance

S Bakhshalizadeh,A Bani,J.T Ponce-Palafox,S Abdolmalaki

doi:10.1590/1678-4162-12270

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aimed to describe and validate the formation of the rings in the spine of the pectoral fin and to determine the coherence of the OTC mark with the rings of three species of Caspian Sea sturgeon, the Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus), the Starry sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) and Ship sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris). Validation was achieved by comparing the total radius of the fin spine of fish of known age after one and two years of growth with the measured radius of the first and second rings in the zone. There was no overlap between the measured radius for the first year and the increase for the second. The Ship sturgeon showed the largest width of the second ring followed by the Persian sturgeon and Stellate sturgeon. The results indicate that the highest growth parameter belongs to the juvenile Ship sturgeon. This research showed that chemically marking the fin spines of juvenile Acipenseridae leads to unbiased estimates and contributes to the knowledge of the population dynamics of these species. The study found that the combination of the dial ring of the pectoral fin spine with growth validated the age estimation in juvenile sturgeon Ship, Persian, and Starry sturgeon.

Highlights

A dramatic decline in diadromous species including sturgeon fish has been seen in the last century (Limburg and Waldman, 2009); the conservation of these endangered species requires an understanding of the life history traits
It was found that Persian Sturgeon, Starry sturgeon, and Ship sturgeon fin spines can be marked with OTC
The width of the first annual increment was similar for the Persian sturgeon and Ship sturgeon and larger than Starry sturgeon (P

Summary

Introduction

A dramatic decline in diadromous species including sturgeon fish has been seen in the last century (Limburg and Waldman, 2009); the conservation of these endangered species requires an understanding of the life history traits. The estimation of sturgeon age is commonly made from cross-sections of the pectoral fin spines (Koch and Quist, 2007; Baremore and Rosati, 2014), based on the optical appearance of temporal cycle. These bony structures provide the greatest precision and accuracy for age estimation, and unlike other structures such as otoliths, opercles, clavicles, cleithra, and medial nuchals, they can be obtained without killing the fish (Brennan and Cailliet, 1989). One way to validate annulus formation in fin spines is through oxytetracycline (OTC) mark analysis

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