Abstract
MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 580:1-16 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12306 FEATURE ARTICLE Movements of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias in the North Atlantic Ocean G. B. Skomal1,*, C. D. Braun2,3, J. H. Chisholm1, S. R. Thorrold4 1Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, 836 South Rodney French Blvd., New Bedford, MA 02744, USA 2MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 3MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA 4Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA *Corresponding author: gregory.skomal@state.ma.us ABSTRACT: In the western North Atlantic, much of what is known about the movement ecology of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias is based on historical fisheries-dependent catch records, which portray a shelf-oriented species that moves north and south seasonally. In this study, we tagged 32 white sharks (16 females, 7 males, 9 unknown), ranging from 2.4 to 5.2 m total length, with satellite-based tags to investigate broad-scale movements in the North Atlantic. Based on 10427 days of tracking data, we found that white sharks are more broadly distributed, both horizontally and vertically, throughout the North Atlantic than previously understood, exhibiting an ontogenetic shift from near-coastal, shelf-oriented habitat to pelagic habitat with frequent excursions to mesopelagic depths. During the coastal phase, white sharks migrated seasonally from the northeast shelf in the summer to overwintering habitat off the southeastern US and the Gulf of Mexico, spending 95% of their time at <50 m depth. During the pelagic phase, subadult and adult white sharks exhibited wide-ranging movements during the fall, winter, and spring into the broader Atlantic over a 30° latitudinal range and as far east as the Azores. These sharks moved daily to depths of up to 1128 m, spending significant time at specific mesopelagic depth zones through a temperature range of 1.6 to 30.4°C. We believe these movements are associated with offshore foraging facilitated by the thermal physiology of the species. Our findings extend the known essential habitat for the white shark in the North Atlantic beyond existing protection, with implications for future conservation. KEY WORDS: White shark · Habitat utilization · Behavior · Migration · Carcharodon carcharias · Life history Full text in pdf format Information about this Feature Article NextCite this article as: Skomal GB, Braun CD, Chisholm JH, Thorrold SR (2017) Movements of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias in the North Atlantic Ocean. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 580:1-16. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12306 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 580. Online publication date: September 29, 2017 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.
Highlights
The white shark Carcharodon carcharias is welldocumented in the western North Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico, including The Bahamas and parts of the Caribbean (Bigelow & Schroeder 1948, Templeman 1963, Compagno 1984, Casey & Pratt 1985)
2012, Duffy et al 2012, Werry et al 2012), we found that white sharks tagged in the Atlantic exhibited coastal, shelf-oriented movements as well as broad movements into oceanic habitat
Regardless of size, all of our tagged white sharks spent at least some proportion of their time on the continental shelf off the US east coast, but movements into oceanic waters beyond the shelf edge were restricted to the subadult and adult sharks of both sexes (> 3 m total length (TL), Fig. 2)
Summary
The white shark Carcharodon carcharias is welldocumented in the western North Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico, including The Bahamas and parts of the Caribbean (Bigelow & Schroeder 1948, Templeman 1963, Compagno 1984, Casey & Pratt 1985). The distribution of the white shark in the western North Atlantic (WNA) has been reviewed by Casey & Pratt (1985) and, more recently, Curtis et al (2014) based on fisheries interactions, confirmed sightings, and published accounts The rarity of this species in the WNA is exemplified by the observation that white sharks represented only 0.04% of the sharks taken by over 2.1 million hooks of pelagic longline effort from the Grand Banks to the Gulf of Mexico (1963−1983, Casey & Pratt 1985) and the resulting compilation of only 649 records during the period 1800−2010 (Curtis et al 2014).
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