Occurrence of the lesser spotted dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula Linnaeus 1758, in the international waters of Mersin Bay, Turkey

Deniz Ayas,Nuray Çi̇ftçi̇

doi:10.33714/masteb.436162

Abstract

Eighty-five specimens of the lesser spotted dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula Linnaeus, 1758, was caught by a bottom trawl in the international waters of the Mersin Bay in May 2018. Some of the caught individuals were preserved in 4% formalin and was deposited in the Museum of the Systematic, Faculty of Fisheries, Mersin University, (catalogue number: MEUFC-18-11-079). The depth of sampling area is between 274 and 641 m. A total of 13 trawling operations were carried out. The total number of caught individuals was 85 and on average 5 individuals were caught in each operation. The other cartilaginous fishes caught apart from S. canicula were Galeus melastomus (1 individual), Squalus acanthias (4 individuals), Etmopterus spinax (11 individuals) and S. canicula made up 84.16% of all cartilaginous fishes which were caught.

Highlights

Scyliorhinus canicula is a small shark species belonging to the family of the Scyliorhinidae of the Carchariniformes order
It is difficult to assess the effects of fisheries on S. canicula populations in the Mediterranean Sea due to lack of species specific reports
85 individuals of S. canicula were caught in 13 trawling operations at a depth of 274-641 m from the open waters of the Mersin Bay (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

Scyliorhinus canicula is a small shark species belonging to the family of the Scyliorhinidae of the Carchariniformes order. Its maximum total length is reported as 100 cm (Compagno, 1984), the common adult length is 60 cm (Muus and Nielsen 1999), and the average size at first sexual maturity is 57 cm which ranges from 41 to 64 cm (Froese and Pauly, 2018) This is an oviparous species, with a single egg laid at a time per oviduct (Compagno, 1984). It is difficult to assess the effects of fisheries on S. canicula populations in the Mediterranean Sea due to lack of species specific reports This shark species has a high post survival rate as a discard species among the species (Ellis et al, 2009). It was determined the distribution and density of S. canicula in the international waters of the Mersin Bay, Northeastern Mediterranean Sea

Material and Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion