The usefulness of otolith chemistry to determine the life history of the honeycomb grouper around Reunion Island (SW Indian Ocean)

•We examined the otolith chemistry of grouper from four coral reefs of La Reunion.•Identification of mainly two fish groups with different geochemical origins and larval dispersals.•One group colonized all reefs with a preferential abundance in the north.•The other group has its source in the south and crossed a water body enriched in barium. Due to the relative geographical isolation of Reunion Island the grouper Epinephelus merra is assumed to be self-recruited but almost nothing is known about its larval history. We used elemental composition of the otoliths (Ba, Sr, Mn, Mg, Na) of fifty-eight one year-old groupers collected from four main coral reefs on the west coast of Reunion Island, to determine environmental variations during their early life history. Hierarchical clustering analysis of the otolith chemical composition of core and early larval phase, allowed the identification of three groups of larvae. Larvae from the first group (cluster 1) were born and dispersed in Ba-enriched water bodies, while the second and third groups included larvae that had crossed Ba-poor water masses. Larvae of group 1 were primarily found in the southern sector (74%) decreasing northward, while group 3 were more abundant in the northern sector (56%) and cluster 2 showed a scattered distribution. Such opposite spatial distributions might suggest that clusters 1 and 3 originated from opposite dispersal kernels, south and north respectively. It is possible however that larvae from both groups came from the same spawning ground but represented different cohorts that experienced changing geochemical conditions either at the spawning site or within the surrounding pelagic environment, over the course of the breeding season. Both scenarios on the origin and dispersion may thus suggest significant influence of hydrographic features causing or preventing larvae from becoming displaced far from their natal area.