Abstract:

As the carrier of biomineral aragonite, fish otoliths memorize various messages of environment through the fishs lifeIn the past three decades, quite a few achievements have been made in the studies of fish otoliths, but no advances in researches using medical instruments have been reportedThe authors tentatively apply Xray computed tomography (CT) to the studies of the internal structure of wild carp otoliths, with the CT value determined by variations in the sample density and element compositionThe wild carps were collected respectively from Baiyangdian Shallow Lake in Hebei province and Miyun Reservoir in Beijing metropolis, whose water environments are quite differentThe former has suffered serious pollution and eutrophication whereas the latter has nearly experienced no pollutionThe primary result indicates that difference exists in CT values of otoliths for the carps from the abovementioned two watersWith studies indepth, it is possible that Xray computed tomography could be served as a useful tool in the study of fish otoliths, and the CT values can be taken as typomorphic parameters to distinguish the waters with different degree of pollution.

Key words:

Key words: carp otoliths; Xray computed tomography; water environment; Baiyangdian Shallow Lake; Miyun Reservoir