Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 580 (2017): 1-16, doi:10.3354/meps12306.
Description:
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.
Description:
This research was funded by Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration,
the National Science Foundation (OCE-0825148),
the John J. Sacco and Edith L. Sacco Charitable Foundation,
the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, the Massachusetts
Environmental Trust, Discovery Communications, National
Geographic, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Keywords:
White shark
;
Habitat utilization
;
Behavior
;
Migration
;
Carcharodon carcharias
;
Life history
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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