Work

Experimental observations on ultrastructure of scales of red seabream (Pagrosomus major) for seawater pH monitoring

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Ocean acidification monitoring relies predominantly on field test and numerical modeling, while bioindicators are emerging as practical and economic approaches for seawater pH monitoring. Here, we report indoor dissolution experiments on the scale of red seabream (Pagrosomus major) under varied pH (from 7.1 to 7.9), showing that the mean aspect ratio of ventral ctenii and caudal/ventral lepidonts negatively correlated with pH. We propose to employ these ultrastructures of fish scale to be a novel bioindicator for marine pH reconstruction. This semiquantitative proxy would be applicable to both contemporary biomonitoring and paleo-oceanic pH reconstruction for the extensive occurrences of fish in modern oceans and fossil records.

Source: Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies

DOI: 10.26881/oahs-2025.1.29

Authors: Weili Hou, Li Tian, Xin Sun, Xin Li, Xiangming Chen, Haijun Song

Institution: China University of Geosciences

Language: English

Topic: Ocean Acidification Effects and Responses

Subfield: Oceanography

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life below water

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China