Growing commercial interest in octopus fisheries has increased the need to develop rapid and inexpensive methods to determine the geographical origins (provenance) of individuals. Identifying the provenance of marine species not only supports high-quality and sustainable fisheries, as seafood distributors are held accountable for accurately sourced products, but can address important ecological questions on movement and connectivity. Multi-elemental signatures in statoliths, the cephalopod equivalent of otoliths, could act as geographical proxies but have never been analysed in octopus. As such, we investigated the statolith chemistry of commercially harvested Octopus berrima collected across two seasons (summer and winter) and from four sites along the South Australian coast with different temperature and salinity profiles. Statoliths were analysed using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, targeting the central portion of the structure, to measure concentrations of chosen elements (⁷Li, ²⁴Mg, ⁵⁵Mn, ⁸⁸Sr, ¹³⁷Ba, ¹¹B, ²³Na, ³¹P, ³⁹K, ⁵⁹Co, ⁶⁰Ni, ⁶⁵Cu, ⁶⁶Zn, ²⁰⁸Pb). Significant differences between region and season were found for most elements, except ⁸⁸Sr and ⁶⁰Ni. Cross-validation classification found that 85% of octopus from environmentally distinctive regions were able to be correctly classified back to region of origin, regardless of harvest season. Regions with similar environmental profiles had lower classification success (70%). We also found that ¹¹B, ¹³⁷Ba, and ⁵⁵Mn contributed most to the discrimination among regions. This study reveals that distinctive geographic signatures are present in statoliths of octopus, establishing the potential of statolith elemental chemistry as a powerful tool for tracking the movement and provenance of octopus.

章鱼渔业日益增长的商业利益增加了开发快速且廉价的方法来确定个体地理起源（出处）的需求。确定海洋物种的来源不仅支持高质量和可持续的渔业，因为海鲜分销商对准确采购的产品负责，而且可以解决有关运动和连通性的重要生态问题。静石中的多元素特征（相当于耳石的头足类动物）可以作为地理代理，但从未在章鱼中进行过分析。因此，我们研究了商业收获的Octopus berrima的石质化学在两个季节（夏季和冬季）和南澳大利亚海岸沿线的四个不同温度和盐度分布的地点收集。使用激光烧蚀电感耦合等离子体质谱法分析静晶石，针对结构的中心部分，以测量所选元素（⁷ Li、²⁴ Mg、⁵⁵ Mn、⁸⁸ Sr、¹³⁷ Ba、¹¹ B、²³ Na、³¹ P）的浓度, ³⁹ K, ⁵⁹ Co, ⁶⁰ Ni, ⁶⁵ Cu, ⁶⁶ Zn, ²⁰⁸铅）。除了⁸⁸ Sr 和⁶⁰ Ni之外，大多数元素在地区和季节之间存在显着差异。交叉验证分类发现，无论收获季节如何，来自环境独特地区的 85% 的章鱼都能够正确归类回原产地。具有相似环境特征的区域的分类成功率较低 (70%)。我们还发现¹¹ B、¹³⁷ Ba 和⁵⁵ Mn 对区域间的歧视贡献最大。这项研究揭示了章鱼的石质中存在独特的地理特征，确立了石质元素化学作为追踪章鱼运动和来源的强大工具的潜力。