Instrument: Isotope-ratio Mass Spectrometer
The Isotope-ratio Mass Spectrometer is a particular type of mass spectrometer used to measure the relative abundance of isotopes in a given sample (e.g. VG Prism II Isotope Ratio Mass-Spectrometer).
Bulk sample nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) isotope compositions of all fishes were determined using an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS; Delta PlusXP) coupled to an elemental analyzer (Conflo IV/Costech ECS 4010). Individual amino acids were measured using an IRMS (Delta PlusXP, Delta V Plus or MAT 253) interfaced with a gas chromatograph (Trace GC).