Validating blueline tilefish Caulolatilus microps ages in the U.S. South Atlantic using bomb radiocarbon (F14 C)

Abstract

Age validation is a critical component of an age-based stock assessment and subsequent species management. Our study used bomb radiocarbon analysis to validate age estimates of Blueline Tilefish Caulolatilus microps, a species for which regional stock assessment scientists have identified age validation as a high priority. We compared a C. microps F¹⁴ C chronology to F¹⁴ C chronologies for finfish of the U.S. South Atlantic Bight (SAB) and the north-west Atlantic. The high degree of correspondence in the chronologies exhibited for C. microps and other species of the SAB suggests a differential ¹⁴ C uptake pattern in the SAB slope waters that is likely the result of local hydrological processes that delay ¹⁴ C reaching the environments inhabited by these species. Our study was able to validate C. microps ages up to 25 years in the SAB, with strong evidence suggesting they are living to at least 50 years old.

Keywords: Caulolatilus microps; age validation; blueline tilefish; bomb radiocarbon.