Bomb radiocarbon dating and age estimation of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) of Norway

Abstract

Age estimates from bomb 14C dating conflict with a well-recognized age reading protocol (grinding, polishing and staining in the sagittal plane) for otoliths of European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Proper alignment of calculated hatch years for 14C measurements taken from the earliest otolith growth—among the smallest otolith extractions to date for successful 14C analysis due to the advent of gas-AMS—was not achieved using age estimates from an accepted method. The realignment of otolith 14C values to a tropical bomb 14C reference chronology, which is most applicable to the Sargasso Sea as the natal origin of European eel, led to an increase of the original age estimates by 8 to 32 years. A maximum age of approximately 46 years was determined for the European eel specimen with the most massive otolith, of which mass is a reasonable proxy for age and was instrumental in identifying age estimate discrepancies. By extending the otolith mass-to-age relationships from this study to the most massive otoliths available from archived otoliths of Norway, an increase of up to several decades from the original otolith age estimates was discovered, leading to support for a potential lifespan of 70–100 years in the natural environment.

Keywords

anguilliformes; gas-AMS; lifespan; otoliths; Sargasso Sea

Published in

Radiocarbon
2025

SLU Authors

• Andrews, Allen

  • Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Pacific Community

UKÄ Subject classification

Fish and Aquacultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2024.134

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/140376