Regional patterns of δ13C and δ15N for European common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) throughout the Northeast Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea

8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, supplemental material https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/suppl/10.1098/rsos.210345.-- The data are provided in the electronic supplementary material

Stable isotope compositions of carbon and nitrogen (expressed as δ13C and δ15N) from the European common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) were measured in order to evaluate the utility of using these natural tracers throughout the Northeast Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea (NEAO-MS). Mantle tissue was obtained from S. officinalis collected from 11 sampling locations spanning a wide geographical coverage in the NEAO-MS. Significant differences of both δ13C and δ15N values were found among S. officinalis samples relative to sampling location. δ13C values did not show any discernable spatial trends; however, a distinct pattern of lower δ15N values in the Mediterranean Sea relative to the NEAO existed. Mean δ15N values of S. officinalis in the Mediterranean Sea averaged 2.5‰ lower than conspecifics collected in the NEAO and showed a decreasing eastward trend within the Mediterranean Sea with the lowest values in the most eastern sampling locations. Results suggest δ15N may serve as a useful natural tracer for studies on the population structure of S. officinalis as well as other marine organisms throughout the NEAO-MS

This work was supported by Texas A&M University (R.J.D.W. and J.R.R.) and the McDaniel Charitable Foundation (J.R.R.). A.V.S. was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/36100/2007). R.V. was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (OCTOSET project, RTI2018-097908-B-I00, MCIU/AEI/FEDER, EU) and the ‘Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) of the Spanish Research Agency [Agencia Española de Investigación (AEI)]

Peer reviewed