Exploring the physiological variables of oxygen isotope composition in chondrychthyan teeth

Since the discoveries of vertebrate bioapatite’s ability to record oxygen isotopecomposition of ambient seawater were made (Kolodny, 1983), oxygen isotopes have beenwidely used as a climatic and oceanographic proxy. The δ18OP aquatic vertebrate apatite isa function of the δ18Ow value of the ambient water, yet “vital effects” on the δ18OP compositionhave been reported previously (Venneman et al., 2013). I have analysed δ18O compositionin the teeth of six extant shark and ray (chondrichthyan) species from the tropical ocean tankof the Blackpool Sea Life Center, UK. The teeth were naturally shed and collected from thetank substrate.Preparation of samples was performed in the Laboratory of Isotope Geology at the NaturalHistory Museum of Stockholm (Sweden), and the δ18O was measured at the NordSIM facility,using secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS) by a high precision and high spatialresolutionCAMECA IMS 1280 ion microprobe.Data treatment was followed by statistical analysis. Results show significant δ18O differencesat inter-tissue level. I could also illustrate the impact of organics-pretreatment on the finalδ18O values, with the outcome of one more favourable pretreatment for SIMS analysis. Intertaxonvariability was observed, without much statistical confidence, but I hypothesize that itmay be due to the difference in tissue crystallization and organic quantity between species