Coastal ecosystems are increasingly threatened by a wide range of human activities. Fish otolith chemistry, by creating a unique specific signature, can be used as a natural tag for determining life stage dispersal, spatial connectivity and population structure. In this study, we tested whether differences in otolith composition among juveniles of gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, could enable their proper allocation to polluted areas based on higher concentrations of elements related to contaminants. Otoliths were embedded, sectioned and analysed by LA-ICP-MS in line scan mode. Multivariate analysis confirmed clear separation between sites and elements. Samples from the site under the strongest anthropogenic impact from industrial and agricultural river input were characterized by higher values of Pb/Ca and Zn/Ca. However, these relatively low values likely do not have a negative effect on S. aurata recruitment, though they could serve for identifying the contribution of polluted nurseries to stock dynamics.

沿海生态系统日益受到各种各样人类活动的威胁。鱼耳石化学通过创建独特的特定特征，可以用作确定生命阶段扩散，空间连通性和种群结构的天然标签。在这项研究中，我们测试了金头鲷，Sparus aurata幼鱼的耳石成分是否存在差异，可以根据与污染物有关的元素的较高浓度，将其适当分配到污染区域。在线扫描模式下，通过LA-ICP-MS对耳石进行嵌入，切片和分析。多变量分析证实了位点和元素之间的明确分离。在工业和农​​业河流投入对人为影响最强的情况下，该地点的样品具有较高的Pb / Ca和Zn / Ca值。然而，尽管这些相对较低的值可以用于确定受污染的苗圃对种群动态的贡献，但对金黄色葡萄球菌的吸收可能不会产生负面影响。