Otolith characterization and integrative species identification of adult mesopelagic fishes from the western North Atlantic Ocean

Fish diversity and ecology in the ocean’s mesopelagic zone are understudied compared to other marine regions despite growing interest harvesting these potential resources. Otoliths can provide a wealth of taxonomic life history information about fish, which help fill knowledge gaps; however, there has been relatively little research date on otoliths species. Here, species-specific image library was assembled sagittal from 70 fishes belonging 29 families collected western North Atlantic Ocean. Images adult 12 species were documented photographed for first time. The fish identified with combination morphological characters DNA barcoding. Regressions between otolith size length presented six largest sample sizes this study. This library, coupled otolith-length width fish-length relationships, be used prey identification back-calculation size, making it valuable tool studies relating food webs important yet poorly understood zone. In addition, 44 barcodes generated study highlight benefit using an integrative approach nature, as well add existing public databases that enable cryptic metabarcoding analyses