Determination of the geographical origin of Trachinotus ovatus and Pampus argenteus in China by multi-element and stable isotope analysis

•Pampus argenteus samples are collected from three locations in China.•Trachinotus ovatus samples are collected from four locations in China.•Multi-element and stable isotope analysis are used to trace sample origins.•The farmed Trachinotus ovatus in different regions have well distinguished. This study aimed to determine whether Trachinotus ovatus and Pampus argenteus could be differentiated by multi-element composition or stable isotope ratio analysis of δ13C and δ15N. The multi-element analysis values of a total of 60 Pampus argenteus samples from three sites and 60 Trachinotus ovatus samples from four sites around China were determined, and the other 60 samples of Pampus argenteus and 51 samples of Trachinotus ovatus were tested by principal component analysis (PCA) to estimate the accuracy of origin identification. The results showed that the cross-validation accuracy rate is 92.2% for the Pampus argenteus and 98.3% for the Trachinotus ovatus. Stable isotope analysis of δ13C and δ15N also can distinguish Trachinotus ovatus from different geographical origins. These results showed that the usefulness of multi-element and stable isotope analysis as indicators for authenticating the geographical origin of two pomfrets in China.