Reproductive aspects of the oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus (Elasmobranchii: Carcharhinidae), in the equatorial and southwestern Atlantic Ocean

Tambourgi, Mirna Regina dos Santos; Hazin, Fábio H.V.; Oliveira, Paulo G.V.; Coelho, Rui; Burgess, George; Roque, Pollyana C. G.

Abstracts

The present study sought to study the reproductive biology of the oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, in the equatorial and southwestern Atlantic Ocean. A total of 234 specimens were collected as bycatch during pelagic longline fisheries targeting tunas and swordfish, between December 2003 and December 2010. The fishing area was located between latitudes 10N and 35S and longitudes 3E and 40W. Of the 234 individuals sampled, 118 were females (with sizes ranging from 81 to 227 cm TL, total length) and 116 males (ranging from 80 to 242 cm TL). The reproductive stages of the females were classed as immature, mature, preovulatory and pregnant, while males were divided into immature, maturing and mature. The size at maturity for females was estimated at 170.0 cm TL, while that for males was between 170.0 and 190.0 cm TL. Ovarian fecundity ranged from 1 to 10 follicles and uterine fecundity from 1 to 10 embryos. The reproductive cycle of this species is most likely biennial, with parturition occurring once every two years.

Reproduction; Maturity stages; Elasmobranch; Viviparity; Size at first maturity; Carcharhinus longimanus

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a biologia reprodutiva do tubarão galha-branca, Carcharhinus longimanus, para assim ampliar as informações sobre a espécie. A área de estudo compreendeu o Atlântico Sudoeste e Equatorial e foram utilizados 234 espécimes coletados entre dezembro de 2003 e dezembro de 2010. Estes foram obtidos por redes de pesca comercial de atum e peixe-espada e vários tubarões, incluindo o tubarão galha-branca, são capturados nesta pescaria de forma acidental. Esses espinhéis operam no Atlântico Sudoeste e Equatorial entre as latitudes 10N e 35S, e longitudes 3E e 40W. Entre os 234 indivíduos capturados, 118 foram fêmeas (81 a 227cm de comprimento total, CT) e 116 foram machos (80 a 242 cm CT). Os estados de maturação das fêmeas foram categorizados como: imaturas, maduras, pré-ovulatórias e grávidas. Os machos foram divididos em: imaturos, em maturação e maduros. O tamanho da primeira maturação para as fêmeas foi estimado em 170 cm de CT, enquanto que o tamanho de maturação sexual dos machos variou entre 170 e 190 cm de CT. A fecundidade ovariana oscilou entre um e 10 folículos, enquanto que a fecundidade do útero oscilou entre um e 10 embriões. Os dados indicam que o ciclo reprodutivo é provavelmente bianual, com o nascimento ocorrendo uma vez a cada dois anos.

Reprodução; Estágios maturacionais; Elasmobrânquios; Viviparidade; Tamanho de primeira maturação; Carcharhinus longimanus

References

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BACKUS, R. H.; SPRINGER, S.; ARNOLD Jr., E. L. A contribution to the natural history of the white-tip shark: Pterolamiops longimanus (Poey). Deep-Sea Res., v. 3, n. 3, p. 178-188, 1956.
BASS, A. J.; D'AUBREY, J. D.; KISTNSAMY, N. Sharks of the east coast of Southern Africa. I. Genus Carcharhinus (Carcharhinidae) Durban: Oceanographic Research Institute, 1973. 168 p. (South Africa Association for Marine Biological Research - Oceanographic Research Institute, Investigational Report; n. 33).
BAUM, J. K.; MYERS, R. A. Shifting baselines and the decline of pelagic sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. Ecol. Lett., v. 7, p. 135 - 145, 2004.
BEERKIRCHER, L. R.; CORTÉS, E.; SHIVJI, M. Characteristics of shark bycatch observed on pelagic longlines off the Southeastern United States, 1992-2000. Mar. Fish. Rev., v. 64, n. 4, p. 40-49, 2002.
BONFIL, R.; CLARKE, S.; NAKANO, H. The biology and ecology of the Oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhhinus longimanus In: CAMHI, M. D.; PIKITCH, E. K.; BABCOCK, E. A. (Eds.). Sharks of the open ocean: biology, fisheries and conservation. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2008. cap. 11, p. 128-139. (Fish and aquatic resources series; 13) [International Pelagic Shark Workshop, 2000, Pacific Grove, Calif.
BONFIL, R.; MENA, R.; ANDA, D. Biological parameters of commercially exploited silky sharks, Carcharhinus falciformes, from the Campeche Bank, Mexico. In: BRANSTETTER, S. (Ed.). Conservation biology of elasmobranchs Silver Spring: NOAA/NMFS, 1993. p. 73 - 86. (NOAA Technical Report NMFS; 115).
CAMHI, M. D.; VALENTI, S. V.; FORDHAM, S. V.; FOWLER, S. L.; GIBSON, C. (Eds.). The conservation status of pelagic sharks and rays Newbury: IUCN Species Survival Commission's Shark Specialist Group, 2009. 78 p. [Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Pelagic Shark Red List Workshop Tubney House, University of Oxford, UK, 19-23 February 2007].
COELHO, R.; FERNANDEZ-CARVALHO, J.; LINO, P. G.; SANTOS, M. N. An overview of the hooking mortality of elasmobranchs caught in a swordfish pelagic longline fishery in the Atlantic Ocean. Aquat. Living Resour., v. 25, p. 311 - 319, 2012.
COMPAGNO, L. J. V. Sharks of the world: an annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1984. v.4, p. 251 - 655. (FAO fisheries synopsis; n. 125) [Part. 2: Carcharhiniformes].
CORTÉS, E. Comparative life history and demography of pelagic sharks. In: CAMHI, M. D.; PIKITCH, E. K.; BABCOCK, E. A. (Eds.). Sharks of the open ocean: biology, fisheries and conservation. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2008. cap. 11, p. 309-322. (Fish and aquatic resources series; 13) [International Pelagic Shark Workshop, 2000, Pacific Grove, Calif.
DULVY, N. K.; SADOVY, Y.; REYNOLDS, J. D. Extinction vulnerability in marine populations. Fish Fish., v. 4, n. 1, p. 25 - 64, 2003.
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GILMAN, E.; CLARKE, S.; BROTHERS, N.; ALFARO-SHIGUETO, J.; MANDELMAN, J.; MANGEL, J.; PETERSEN, S.; PIOVANO, S.; THOMSON, N.; DALZELL, P.; DONOSO, M.; GOREN, M.; WERNER, T. Shark interactions in pelagic longline fisheries. Mar. Policy, v. 32, n. 1, p. 1-18, 2008.
GOHAR, H. A. F.; MAZHAR, F. M. The elasmobranches of the North-Western Red Sea: the internal anatomy of Selachii from the North Western Red Sea: keeping elasmobranches in vivaria. [S.l.]: Cairo University Press, 1964. p. 3-143. (Publitions of the Marine Biological Station, Ghardaqa; v. 13).
GUITART MANDAY, D. Las pesquerias pelágico-oceanicas de corto radio de acción en la region noroccidental de Cuba Havana: Instituto de Oceanologia, Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, 1975. 26 p. (Serie Oceanologia; 31).
HOLDEN, M. J. Are long-term sustainable fisheries for elasmobranchs possible? In: PARISH, B. B. (Ed.). Fish stocks and recruitment: Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Aarhus, 7-10 July, 1970. [S.l.]: Conseil International pour L'Exploration de la Mer, 1973. p. 360 - 367. (Rapports et Proces-Verbaux des Reunions Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer; v. 164).
HUTCHINGS, J. A.; MYERS, R. A.; GARCIA, V. B.; LUCIFORA, L. O.; KUPARINEN, A. Life-history correlates of extinction and recovery potential. Ecol. Appl., v. 22, n. 4, p. 1061-1067, 2012.
ICES. Report of the Workshop on Sexual Maturity Staging of Elasmobranches (WKMSEL): 11-15 October 2010, Valetta, Malta. Copenhagen: International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 2010. 132 p. (WKMSEL Report 2010, Ices Advisory Committee, ICES CM 2010/ACOM; 48).
KOHLER, N. E.; CASEY, J. G.; TURNER, P. A. NMFS Cooperative shark tagging program, 1962-93: an atlas of shark tag and capture data. Mar. Fish. Rev., v. 60, n. 2, p. 1-87, 1998.
LESSA, R.; SANTANA, F. M.; PAGLERANI, R. Age, growth and stock structure of the oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, from the southwestern equatorial Atlantic. Fish. Res., v. 42, n. 1/2, p. 21-30, 1999.
LINEAWEAVER III, T. H.; BACKUS, R. H. The natural history of sharks Philadelphia: J.B. Lippencott, 1970. 256 p.
Malcolm P. Francis, Worthington, Craig J., Saul Peter; Clements, Kendall D. 1999. New and rare tropical and subtropical fishes from northern New Zealand', New Zealand Journal of Mar and Freshw Res, 33: 4, 571 - 586.
MYERS, R. A.; WORM, B. Extinction, survival or recovery of large predatory fishes. Philos. Trans. R. Soc., B: Biol. Sci., v. 360, n. 1453, p. 13 - 20, 2005.
PRATT Jr., H. L. The storage of spermetazoa in the oviducal glands of western North Atlantic sharks. Environ. Biol. Fishes, v. 38, n. 1/3, p. 139-149, 1992.
RANDALL, J.E. Dangerous sharks of the Western Atlantic. In: GILBERT, P. W.; GARRICK, J. A. F.; SCHULTZ, L. P. (Eds.). Sharks and survival Boston: C. D. Heath and Co., 1963. p. 339-362.
SAIKA, S. and YOSHIMURA, H. Oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) in the western Pacific. Report of the Japanese Group for Elasmobranch Studies, v. 20, p. 11-21, 1985.
SEKI, T.; TANIUCHI, T.; NAKANO, H.; SHIMIZU, M. Age, growth and reproduction of the Oceanic Whitetip Shark from the Pacific Ocean. Fish. Sci., v. 64, n. 1, p. 14-20, 1998.
SMITH, S. E.; AU, D. W.; SHOW, C. Intrinsic rebound potentials of 26 species of Pacific sharks. Mar. Freshwater Res., v. 49, p. 663-678, 1998.
STEVENS, J. D. Biological observations on sharks caught by sport fishermen off New South Wales. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwater Res., v. 35, p. 573 - 590, 1984.
STRASBURG, D. W. Distribution, abundance and habits of pelagic sharks in the Central Pacific Ocean Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1958. p. 335-361, (Fishery Bulletin; 138. Fishery Bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service; v.58).
WHITE, W. T. Catch composition and reproductive biology of whaler sharks (Carcharhiniformes: Carcharhinidae) caught by fisheries in Indonesia. J. Fish Biol., v. 71, p. 1512-1540, 2007.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
15 July 2013
Date of issue
June 2013

History

Received
18 Feb 2013
Accepted
16 May 2013
Reviewed
28 Apr 2013

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

[1] AMORIM, A. F.; ARFELLI, C. A.; FAGUNDES, L. Pelagic elasmobranches caught by longliners off southern Brazil during 1974 - 97: an overview. Mar. Freshwater Res., v. 49, n. 7, p. 621-632, 1998.

[2] BACKUS, R. H.; SPRINGER, S.; ARNOLD Jr., E. L. A contribution to the natural history of the white-tip shark: Pterolamiops longimanus (Poey). Deep-Sea Res., v. 3, n. 3, p. 178-188, 1956.

[3] BASS, A. J.; D'AUBREY, J. D.; KISTNSAMY, N. Sharks of the east coast of Southern Africa. I. Genus Carcharhinus (Carcharhinidae) Durban: Oceanographic Research Institute, 1973. 168 p. (South Africa Association for Marine Biological Research - Oceanographic Research Institute, Investigational Report; n. 33).

[4] BAUM, J. K.; MYERS, R. A. Shifting baselines and the decline of pelagic sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. Ecol. Lett., v. 7, p. 135 - 145, 2004.

[5] BEERKIRCHER, L. R.; CORTÉS, E.; SHIVJI, M. Characteristics of shark bycatch observed on pelagic longlines off the Southeastern United States, 1992-2000. Mar. Fish. Rev., v. 64, n. 4, p. 40-49, 2002.

[6] BONFIL, R.; CLARKE, S.; NAKANO, H. The biology and ecology of the Oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhhinus longimanus In: CAMHI, M. D.; PIKITCH, E. K.; BABCOCK, E. A. (Eds.). Sharks of the open ocean: biology, fisheries and conservation. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2008. cap. 11, p. 128-139. (Fish and aquatic resources series; 13) [International Pelagic Shark Workshop, 2000, Pacific Grove, Calif.

[7] BONFIL, R.; MENA, R.; ANDA, D. Biological parameters of commercially exploited silky sharks, Carcharhinus falciformes, from the Campeche Bank, Mexico. In: BRANSTETTER, S. (Ed.). Conservation biology of elasmobranchs Silver Spring: NOAA/NMFS, 1993. p. 73 - 86. (NOAA Technical Report NMFS; 115).

[9] CAMHI, M. D.; VALENTI, S. V.; FORDHAM, S. V.; FOWLER, S. L.; GIBSON, C. (Eds.). The conservation status of pelagic sharks and rays Newbury: IUCN Species Survival Commission's Shark Specialist Group, 2009. 78 p. [Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Pelagic Shark Red List Workshop Tubney House, University of Oxford, UK, 19-23 February 2007].

[10] COELHO, R.; FERNANDEZ-CARVALHO, J.; LINO, P. G.; SANTOS, M. N. An overview of the hooking mortality of elasmobranchs caught in a swordfish pelagic longline fishery in the Atlantic Ocean. Aquat. Living Resour., v. 25, p. 311 - 319, 2012.

[11] COMPAGNO, L. J. V. Sharks of the world: an annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1984. v.4, p. 251 - 655. (FAO fisheries synopsis; n. 125) [Part. 2: Carcharhiniformes].

[12] CORTÉS, E. Comparative life history and demography of pelagic sharks. In: CAMHI, M. D.; PIKITCH, E. K.; BABCOCK, E. A. (Eds.). Sharks of the open ocean: biology, fisheries and conservation. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2008. cap. 11, p. 309-322. (Fish and aquatic resources series; 13) [International Pelagic Shark Workshop, 2000, Pacific Grove, Calif.

[13] DULVY, N. K.; SADOVY, Y.; REYNOLDS, J. D. Extinction vulnerability in marine populations. Fish Fish., v. 4, n. 1, p. 25 - 64, 2003.

[14] FOURMANOIR, P. Requins de la côte ouest de Madagascar [S.l.: s.n.], 1961. p. 1-81. (Memoires de l´Institut Scientifique de Madagascar, Serie F. Océanographie, v. 4).

[15] GILMAN, E.; CLARKE, S.; BROTHERS, N.; ALFARO-SHIGUETO, J.; MANDELMAN, J.; MANGEL, J.; PETERSEN, S.; PIOVANO, S.; THOMSON, N.; DALZELL, P.; DONOSO, M.; GOREN, M.; WERNER, T. Shark interactions in pelagic longline fisheries. Mar. Policy, v. 32, n. 1, p. 1-18, 2008.

[16] GOHAR, H. A. F.; MAZHAR, F. M. The elasmobranches of the North-Western Red Sea: the internal anatomy of Selachii from the North Western Red Sea: keeping elasmobranches in vivaria. [S.l.]: Cairo University Press, 1964. p. 3-143. (Publitions of the Marine Biological Station, Ghardaqa; v. 13).

[17] GUITART MANDAY, D. Las pesquerias pelágico-oceanicas de corto radio de acción en la region noroccidental de Cuba Havana: Instituto de Oceanologia, Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, 1975. 26 p. (Serie Oceanologia; 31).

[18] HOLDEN, M. J. Are long-term sustainable fisheries for elasmobranchs possible? In: PARISH, B. B. (Ed.). Fish stocks and recruitment: Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Aarhus, 7-10 July, 1970. [S.l.]: Conseil International pour L'Exploration de la Mer, 1973. p. 360 - 367. (Rapports et Proces-Verbaux des Reunions Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer; v. 164).

[19] HUTCHINGS, J. A.; MYERS, R. A.; GARCIA, V. B.; LUCIFORA, L. O.; KUPARINEN, A. Life-history correlates of extinction and recovery potential. Ecol. Appl., v. 22, n. 4, p. 1061-1067, 2012.

[20] ICES. Report of the Workshop on Sexual Maturity Staging of Elasmobranches (WKMSEL): 11-15 October 2010, Valetta, Malta. Copenhagen: International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 2010. 132 p. (WKMSEL Report 2010, Ices Advisory Committee, ICES CM 2010/ACOM; 48).

[21] KOHLER, N. E.; CASEY, J. G.; TURNER, P. A. NMFS Cooperative shark tagging program, 1962-93: an atlas of shark tag and capture data. Mar. Fish. Rev., v. 60, n. 2, p. 1-87, 1998.

[22] LESSA, R.; SANTANA, F. M.; PAGLERANI, R. Age, growth and stock structure of the oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, from the southwestern equatorial Atlantic. Fish. Res., v. 42, n. 1/2, p. 21-30, 1999.

[23] LINEAWEAVER III, T. H.; BACKUS, R. H. The natural history of sharks Philadelphia: J.B. Lippencott, 1970. 256 p.

[24] Malcolm P. Francis, Worthington, Craig J., Saul Peter; Clements, Kendall D. 1999. New and rare tropical and subtropical fishes from northern New Zealand', New Zealand Journal of Mar and Freshw Res, 33: 4, 571 - 586.

[25] MYERS, R. A.; WORM, B. Extinction, survival or recovery of large predatory fishes. Philos. Trans. R. Soc., B: Biol. Sci., v. 360, n. 1453, p. 13 - 20, 2005.

[26] PRATT Jr., H. L. The storage of spermetazoa in the oviducal glands of western North Atlantic sharks. Environ. Biol. Fishes, v. 38, n. 1/3, p. 139-149, 1992.

[27] RANDALL, J.E. Dangerous sharks of the Western Atlantic. In: GILBERT, P. W.; GARRICK, J. A. F.; SCHULTZ, L. P. (Eds.). Sharks and survival Boston: C. D. Heath and Co., 1963. p. 339-362.

[28] SAIKA, S. and YOSHIMURA, H. Oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) in the western Pacific. Report of the Japanese Group for Elasmobranch Studies, v. 20, p. 11-21, 1985.

[29] SEKI, T.; TANIUCHI, T.; NAKANO, H.; SHIMIZU, M. Age, growth and reproduction of the Oceanic Whitetip Shark from the Pacific Ocean. Fish. Sci., v. 64, n. 1, p. 14-20, 1998.

[30] SMITH, S. E.; AU, D. W.; SHOW, C. Intrinsic rebound potentials of 26 species of Pacific sharks. Mar. Freshwater Res., v. 49, p. 663-678, 1998.

[31] STEVENS, J. D. Biological observations on sharks caught by sport fishermen off New South Wales. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwater Res., v. 35, p. 573 - 590, 1984.

[32] STRASBURG, D. W. Distribution, abundance and habits of pelagic sharks in the Central Pacific Ocean Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1958. p. 335-361, (Fishery Bulletin; 138. Fishery Bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service; v.58).

[33] WHITE, W. T. Catch composition and reproductive biology of whaler sharks (Carcharhiniformes: Carcharhinidae) caught by fisheries in Indonesia. J. Fish Biol., v. 71, p. 1512-1540, 2007.