Relationship of phosphorus content in carp otoliths with that in ambient water in Xiaoxi Port of the Taihu Lake, East China

It has been of high concern that the phosphorus pollution is getting serious after lake eutrophication in the Taihu Lake, the third largest freshwater lake in China. As a sensitive recorder of the ambient water and fish exposures, fish otolith has been studied as a potential dynamic monitor of water quality by many biologists and mineralogists. In order to work out the correlation of phosphorus enrichment in carp otoliths to the ambient water of the carps, the phosphorus concentration in carp otoliths was measured in situ using laser ablation plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and comparison with the relevant data of the water was conducted. Significant positive correlation was found for phosphorus concentration in carp otoliths to the ambient water in the corresponding time. Therefore, the wild carp otoliths have the potential to act as an environmental indicator of water phosphorus pollution and lake eutrophication.