Ontogenetic shifts in growth and habitat use of freshwater Coastal Cutthroat Trout revealed through otolith analysis of multiple elements

This dataset contains otolith microchemistry transects and derived products for adfluvial Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) sampled in the Comox Lake–watershed system (Vancouver Island, BC). Raw transects for stream-caught juveniles and lake-caught adults were acquired as elemental concentrations (ppm) and converted in this workflow to molar ratios (element, mmol/mol) for Mg, Mn, Zn, Sr, Ba (Li included where available). Primordia and check positions (e.g., first winter) were compiled from microscope-based measurements for both adults and juveniles, enabling extraction of life-stage-specific windows (e.g., natal/rearing sections) along each transect.
We use multiple analytical tracks.
(1) Natal origin discrimination: After cleaning and unit conversion, we compute OTF-level means over a standardized rearing window and log-transform elements for MANOVA/ANOVA with Tukey HSD across capture sources; letters are overlaid on boxplots to summarize pairwise differences. We t..., , # Comox Lake–Comox River Cutthroat Trout Otolith Microchemistry: Open Source Data

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We have submitted our raw elemental transect data for stream-caught juveniles (**Comox_stream_unadjustedformolarmass.csv**), raw elemental transect data for lake-caught adults (**Comox_lake_unadjustedformolarmass.csv**), adult otolith primordia and check position data (**adult_primordia_measurements.csv**), juvenile otolith primordia and check position data (**juvenile_primordia_measurements.csv**), capture metadata linking fish to source tributaries (**Comox_Sources.csv**), annuli growth measurements and zinc oscillation data (**Comox_cutthroat_growth_data_annuli_Zinc_2025.xlsx**), and R script (**Comox_OT_2025.R**).

## Descriptions

### **Comox_stream_unadjustedformolarmass**

Raw elemental transect data (ppm) for stream-caught juvenile Coastal Cutthroat Trout (*Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii*) collected from natal tributaries.

* *OT*: Unique scan identifier
* *Seconds*: Ablation time position alon..., ,