Regional movement patterns of a small‐bodied shark revealed by stable‐isotope analysis. Issue 5 (7th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Munroe, S. E. M.; Heupel, M. R.; Fisk, A. T.; Logan, M.; Simpfendorfer, C. A.
• Is Part Of: Journal of fish biology. Volume 86:Issue 5(2015)
• Page Start: 1567
• Page End: 1586
• Publication Date: 2015-04-07
• Subjects: Fishes -- Periodicals; Fishes -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 597
• DOI: 10.1111/jfb.12660
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-1112

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="jfb12660-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p id="jfb12660-para-0001">This study used stable‐isotope analysis to define the nearshore regional residency and movements of the small‐bodied Australian sharpnose shark <italic>Rhizoprionodon taylori</italic>. Plasma and muscle δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N of <italic>R. taylori</italic> were collected from across five embayments and compared with values of seagrass and plankton from each bay. Linear distances between adjacent bays ranged from 30 to 150 km. There was a positive geographic correlation between <italic>R. taylori</italic> tissue and environmental δ¹³C values. Populations with the highest tissue δ¹⁵N were collected from bays that had the highest environmental δ¹⁵N values. These results suggest that <italic>R. taylori</italic> did not forage more than 100 km away from their capture location within 6 months to 1 year. The successful application of isotope analysis to define <italic>R. taylori</italic> movement demonstrates that this technique may be used in addition to traditional methods to study the movement of sharks, even within similar habitats across regionally small spatial scales (&lt;100 km).</p> </abstract>