Application of the bomb radiocarbon chronometer with eye lens core ¹⁴C for age validation in deepwater reef fishes

Eye lens core Delta C-14 of Gulf of Mexico outer shelf and upper slope reef fishes matched a regional Delta C-14 reference time series, but otolith cores were depleted in C-14 relative to the reference series. This is due to C in eye lens protein being derived from metabolic sources, with the ultimate source being epipelagic phytoplankton. In contrast, otolith C is derived mainly (70%-80%) from dissolved inorganic C, which is depleted in C-14 beyond the epipelagic. Analyzing Delta C-14 in eye lens cores provides a novel approach for validating age estimates of deepwater (>200 m) fishes, which were unresolved in earlier applications of the bomb C-14 chronometer.