Ontogenetic migration of a female scalloped hammerhead shark

Ontogenetic migration of a female scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini in the Gulf of California

E. Mauricio Hoyos-Padilla | James T. Ketchum | A. Peter Klimley | Felipe Galván-Magaña

Animal Biotelemetry, 2014, 2:17

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2050-3385-2-17

Abstract

Our study documents a female scalloped hammerhead shark changing life history phases from a nursery-inhabiting juvenile inshore to a migratory sub-adult offshore. We also infer that this shark swam within a school of conspecifics at an offshore island or seamount during the day, and migrated away at night, diving to greater depths to feed on mesopelagic prey. We show that this female shark carried out her complete biological cycle in both coastal and offshore areas of the central and southwestern Gulf of California, suggesting maximization of foraging opportunities and continued growth. In this study, we provide evidence for the first time of an ontogenetic migration of a juvenile scalloped hammerhead shark in the Gulf of California, which could be of great significance for the regional management and conservation of sharks in the Gulf of California.

Keywords: Ontogeny, movements, archival tag, hammerhead shark, Gulf of California

Press Release on Businesss Insider Australia, Nov 28, 2014:

Scientists Tracked This Hammerhead For 10 Months To Figure Out Its Social Life