E Burton

Radiometric age determination
of the giant grenadier,
Albatrossia pectoralis,
using 210Pb:226Ra disequilibria.

Erica J. Burton




The giant grenadier, Albatrossia pectoralis, is a deep-water benthopelagic macrourid found in the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea in depths of 200 to 2170 meters. Few macrourid species are commercially targeted by United States fisheries, but in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea many are caught incidentally by trawl and longline fishermen. To properly manage the fishery, age and growth information is needed. The most common method of age determination involves counting growth increments deposited in calcified structures such as otoliths (fish ear bones).

Age estimates determined from growth increments in sagittal otolith sections indicated that Albatrossia pectoralis is slow growing (K < 0.023) and lives up to 56 years. Growth increments found in otolith sections, however, were difficult to interpret. The von Bertalanffy growth function for A. pectoralis otolith section age estimates did not fit size-at-age data well. To validate age and longevity estimates, ages were determined using the radioactive disequilibria of 210Pb:226Ra in otolith cores from adult A. pectoralis. Radiometric and growth increment ages agreed for 6 of the 12 pooled otolith age-groups. Radiometric age determination confirmed longevity to at least 32 years for females and 27 years for males. Additional age and longevity estimates are still necessary to develop an informed fishery management plan for A. pectoralis.

Funding: This research was funded in part by the Dr. Earl H. Myers and Ethel M. Myers Oceanographic and Marine Biology Trust; and the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, under grant number NA36RG0537, project number R/F-148, and under grant number NA89AA-D-SG138, project number R/ND-1-20D through the California Sea Grant College System, and in part by the California State Resources Agency. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its subagencies. The U.S. government is authorized to reproduce and distribute for governmental purposes.

Erica graduated December 1999. She currently works for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary as the Research Assistant.

Other Research Projects

Publications

Andrews, A.H., K.H. Coale, J.L. Nowicki, C. Lundstrom, Z. Palacz, E.J. Burton, and G.M. Cailliet. 1999.
Application of an ion-exchange separation technique and thermal ionization mass spectrometry to
226Ra determination in otoliths for radiometric age determination of long-lived fishes. Canadian Journal
of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 56:1329-1338.

Burton, E.J., A.H. Andrews, K.H. Coale, and G.M. Cailliet. 1999. Application of radiometric age
determination to three long-lived fishes using 210Pb:226Ra disequilibria in calcified structures:
A review. In: J.A. Musick (Editor). Life in the slow lane: ecology and conservation of long-lived
marine animals. American Fisheries Society Symposium 23, Bethesda, Maryland. p. 77-87.

Senozan, N.M. and E. Burton. 1994. Hemoglobin as a remarkable molecular pump. Journal of Chemical
Education 71:282-284.


Publication Submitted

Andrews, A.H., E.J. Burton, K.H. Coale, G.M. Cailliet, and R.E. Crabtree. Submitted to Fishery Bulletin.
Application of radiometric age determination to the Atlantic tarpon, Megalops atlanticus.


Technical Publications

Andrews, A.H., E.J. Burton, K.H. Coale, and G.M. Cailliet. 1997. Chapter 2. Radiometric age
determination of the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus): A feasibility study using
pectoral fin rays. Pages 63-80. In: D.H. Secor, J.T. Stevenson, and E.D. Houde (authors).
Age Structure and Life History Attributes of Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) in
the Hudson River. University of Maryland, Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies,
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Ref. No. [UMCEES]CBL 97-107.

Nybakken, J., G.M. Cailliet, L.L. Weetman, A. Andrews, E. Cordes, M. Jacobi, M.D. White,
K. Johnson, E. Burton, and N. Laman. 1996. Ocean disposal site end point monitoring. MLML
Technical Publication 96-3, 37p. Navy Contract No. N62474-90-C-1147.


Presentations

Lewis, R., B.D. Edwards, J. Douglas, K.H. Coale, E. Burton. Accumulation rate and mixing of shelf
sediments in the northern Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. Poster, American Association of
Petroleum Geologists. Monterey, California, April 1999.

Burton, E.J., A.H. Andrews, K.H. Coale, and G.M. Cailliet. Application of the radiometric ageing
technique using 210Pb:226Ra disequilibria in calcified structures of two long-lived fishes: Atlantic
tarpon (Megalops atlanticus & Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus). Poster, International
Symposium on Fish Otolith Research and Application. Bergen, Norway, June 1998.

Burton, E.J., A.H. Andrews, K.H. Coale, and G.M. Cailliet. Radiometric age determination of
long-lived fishes using 210Pb:226Ra disequilibria in calcified structures. Oral Presentation,
Ecology and Conservation of Long-lived Animals Symposium, American Fisheries Society.
Monterey, California, August 1997.


Award Received

American Fisheries Society/Sea Grant Association Outstanding Student Paper Award, 1997.
Radiometric age determination of long-lived fishes using 210Pb:226Ra disequilibria in calcified
structures.

Created by: Erica Burton
Comments:webmaster@mlml.calstate.edu
Last Revision: 28 January 2004