Trace element and stable isotope analysis elucidate stock structure in a narwhal (Monodon monoceros) population with no genetic substructure

Chemical composition of tissues can act as a biological tag to discriminate among groups of animals that inhabit different areas. In Canada, subsistence hunting of the Baffin Bay narwhal (Monodon monoceros Linnaeus, 1758) population is managed as stocks represented by summer aggregations. However, narwhals are highly mobile and are hunted during the migration while stocks mix. Thus, information that can help managers decipher the stock origin of...