Adventures in the strontium

2001/08/10 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Biologia
• Zoologia
• Ozeanografia

The study of strontium accumulated in the bones allows to know the displacements of salmon.

Atlantic Ocean salmon spend their first two years of life on rivers. Then they go to the sea and spend several years there. After this small adventure they return to the river to reproduce.

But not all salmons manage to make that trip, because many die at sea. Therefore, it is important to know the streams of which fish are able to move successfully. In this way, you can know which habitat is best to protect and where the nursery salmon should be released.

For all this, scientists at the University of Michigan have devised a new method to control the displacement of salmon. The team formed by Brian Kennedy, Andrea Klaue and Joel Blum discover that the strontium of the rocky layers of the river bottom accumulates in the salmon bones. The study of this strontium allows to know the rivers that have known the fish, since the relationship between the different isotopes of strontium in each side is very stable.