Comparison of 0- and 2-group otolith elemental signatures to discriminate Solea solea nurseries in the bay of biscay

International audienceThe common sole Solea solea (L.) is a commercially important and widely distributed flatfish of the North-East Atlantic. For the Bay of Biscay stock, sole nurseries display differences in terms of quantity and quality. In fine the measure of the quality of a habitat for juveniles of a particular species is expressed by the contribution to the recruitment into the adult population. Understanding this connectivity between juvenile and adult habitats, i.e. evaluating the contribution of each nursery to a single adult stock appears essential in terms of stock management. However, this critical link is still missing for the Bay of Biscay sole stock. Determining if nurseries could be discriminated using otolith elemental composition analysis constitutes the first step in evaluating the relative contribution of these nurseries into the adult stock. The aim of this study was to compare otolith elemental signatures of sole juveniles from two different ages (0-group and 2-group) captured at the same time in the six main nurseries of Bay of Biscay along the French Atlantic coast