Pre-treatment methods for stable oxygen and carbon isotope analyses of structural carbonates of bones in marine teleost fishes.

Rationale: Although the proportion of structural carbonates in vertebrate bones is low, the values of isotopes, namely stable oxygen (δ O) and carbon (δ C), in structural carbonates provide environmental and physiological information, which can be beneficial for estimating the palaeontological and ecological parameters of vertebrates. However, a few studies have analysed the isotopes of structural carbonates in modern teleost fishes, and a well-developed protocol for sample preparation is lacking.

Methods: We examined different pre-treatment methods of preparing bone samples of three marine teleost fishes (Japanese flounder, Pacific bluefin tuna and yellowtail) and investigated the effects of the cleaning methods on the stable isotope values of structural carbonates among vertebrae in the same individual.