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Multi-Year Movements of Blacknose, Finetooth, & Sharpnose Sharks in the US South Atlantic Based on Monitoring Within a Regional-Scale Acoustic Telemetry NetworkDespite their numerical abundance and economic value, the behavior of many small coastal sharks in the US South Atlantic has been only coarsely described. Here we present movement summaries for blacknose (Carcharhinus acronotus), finetooth (C. isodon), and Atlantic sharpnose shark (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) as they travelled through a regional-scale acoustic telemetry network, offering direct comparisons of habitat utilization, site fidelity, and the extent and timing of coastal migrations. From 2013-2016, 165 total sharks were implanted with acoustic transmitters at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and tracked up to four years. While blacknose sharks were common off east Florida year-round, finetooth sharks were most abundant winter through early spring and sharpnose sharks summer through fall. Blacknose sharks also moved more slowly (mean 0.8 kilometers per hour) and had the broadest depth preferences, while finetooth sharks were strongly shore-associated and sharpnose preferred proportionally deeper waters. All species exhibited low site fidelity when at Cape Canaveral, remaining at the same site for more than 1 hour on average, even when associated with deeper hard-bottom sites. Most finetooth and many blacknose undertook spring migrations as far as Virginia and North Carolina, respectively, before returning to east Florida each winter. Sharpnose also made regular northward movements that were not as obviously seasonally-driven. Multiple individuals of all species, particularly females, returned briefly south to Cape Canaveral in mid-summer, illustrating that coastal migrations in these species are more akin to seasonal expansions of their geographic ranges as opposed to a synchronized shift of the entire population along the coast.
Document ID
20190028354
Acquisition Source
Kennedy Space Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Reyier, Eric (Integrated Mission Support Services, LLC Merritt Island, FL, United States)
Ahr, Bonnie (Integrated Mission Support Services, LLC Merritt Island, FL, United States)
Scheidt, Doug (Integrated Mission Support Services, LLC Merritt Island, FL, United States)
Iafrate, Joe (Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport, RI, United States)
Watwood, Stephanie (Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport, RI, United States)
Date Acquired
July 30, 2019
Publication Date
July 24, 2019
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
KSC-E-DAA-TN70966
Meeting Information
Meeting: Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH 2019)
Location: Snowbird, UT
Country: United States
Start Date: July 24, 2019
End Date: July 28, 2019
Sponsors: American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH), American Elasmobranch Society (AES), Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), Herpetologist's League
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNK16OB01C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Technical Review
Single Expert

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