[Trace elements in the statoliths of neon flying squid, Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean]

Statolith is one of the most important hard tissues of cephalopods which is widely used in the research of fisheries ecology including population structure, life history reconstruction and so on. Trace elements of 18 statoliths of neon flying squid Ommastrephes bartramii collected in the Northwest Pacific Ocean in 2007 by Chinese jigging fishing fleets were analyzed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The results indicated that the statoliths of O. bartramii mainly contained 55 elements, and calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), sodium (Na), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), silicon (Si), magnesium (Mg), boron (B), iron (Fe), barium (Ba) were the 10 most abundant elements. The analysis of variance showed that there was no significant difference in each element distribution between different sexual squid except for P, Si and B. Significant differences existed in the contents of Sr and Na but no significant difference was found in the contents of Ca, P, K, Si, Mg, B, Fe and Ba between different hatching populations. There were significant differences in the contents of Ca, Sr, Na, P, Mg and Ba, but no significant difference was found in the contents of K, Fe, B and Si in the statoliths among different growth zones. This study presented Sr and Na could be the best two trace elements used in the research on the population structure and life history reconstruction for O. bartramii.