Distinguishing spring- and autumn-spawned herring larvae (Clupea harengus L.) by otolith microstructure

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Abstract
The otolith microstructure from North Sea autumn-spawned herring larvae and Norwegian spring-spawned herring larvae is described. The distance from the nucleus to the hatch check is on average 1.5 μm longer in the spring-spawned larvae (11.6 μm) than in the autumn-spawned (10.1 μm), and the average increment size is larger. The greatest difference is observed in the zone between 20 and 60 increments from the nucleus. This corresponds to a distance of 20 to 60 μm from the nucleus in the autumn-spawned herring larvae and of 28 to 132 μm in the spring-spawned larvae. A combination of distance to the hatch check and increment size in otolith from 30 to 60 μ from the nucleus could be a valuable method of distinguishing between the progeny of spring- and autumn-spawning herring.