When researching fish, scientists can use grinders to analyze its age and species. In all bonefish, there are stones made of calcium compounds in their inner ear called grinders. They play a variety of roles, including is the sense of hearing and balance of the fish in the sea, but you can do a lot more by looking at them. This week, the mills of small cod at IFL were being removed, among other things to check the condition of the ecosystem in the sea around Iceland.
This "ear examination" is part of The AMSUM monitoring project, which IFL has participated in since 1989, but its goal is to monitor changes that may occur in the concentration of trace elements in the marine environment around Iceland during a certain period and between different ocean and coastal areas. IFL's role in the project is to oversee measurements of various inorganic trace elements and chloro-organic substances in sand coal, cod and mussels collected around the country. IFL is also responsible for entering data into the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) database.
This week, employees from the Environment and Quality Department of IFL's Research Division were preparing small cod for research in the processing hall of the Fisheries House by filleting it and removing grinders.
Project manager at IFL: Eva Yngvadóttir