Nocturnal and crepuscular behavior in elasmobranchs: a review of movement, habitat use, foraging, and reproduction in the dark

Hammerschlag, Neil; Skubel, Rachel A.; Calich, Hannah J.; Nelson, Emily R.; Shiffman, David S.; Wester, Julia; Macdonald, Catherine; Cain, Stephen C.; Jennings, Lindsay B.; Enchelmaier, A.; Gallagher, AJ

doi:10.5343/bms.2016.1046

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…It is possible that deep dives undertaken during the night would have been observed if sharks were diving to reduce internal temperature (Campana et al, 2011), however, during this period, the blue sharks we tracked remained largely in shallow waters above 250 m. Hence, our collective results indicate that the vertical patterns we recorded were most likely linked to prey aggregations and associated depth changes. The occupation of near-surface depths at night together with day-time mesopelagic dives were indicative of tracked blue sharks maximising the day/night spatial overlap with aggregations of diel vertically migrating prey, potentially increasing foraging success (Campana et al, 2011;Queiroz et al, 2012;Hammerschlag et al, 2016). Furthermore, regular nDVM and surface-oriented behaviour of sharks in this study were frequently observed associated with areas where prey typically aggregates near the surface, such as frontal regions, e.g., the NAC-LCCZ and the western Africa upwelling region (Sims et al, 2006;Campana et al, 2011).…”

Section: Diel Vertical Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During nights of new moon blue shark dives were generally restricted to shallow waters (between the surface and 100 m depth), while on nights of full moon, sharks displayed an increased occupation of depths between 100 and 250 m. Although several studies have related fish vertical movement shifts to the lunar phase (e.g., Bestley et al, 2009;Abascal et al, 2010;Eveson et al, 2018), few studies have described this behaviour for elasmobranchs (Graham et al, 2006;Shepard et al, 2006;Hammerschlag et al, 2016). For example, planktivorous basking sharks showed cyclical lunar activity, with an increased diving frequency fortnightly (Shepard et al, 2006), while the depth of whale sharks varied with lunar illumination, with shallower dives during snapper spawning events in full moon, likely to maximise foraging on fish eggs (Graham et al, 2006).…”

Section: Lunar Phase and Overlap With Surface Longlining Hooksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, understanding how environmental changes affect the movements and behaviour of pelagic fish has also enabled the identification of areas and periods of higher vulnerability to fisheries (Song et al, 2009;Queiroz et al, 2016Queiroz et al, , 2019Hays et al, 2019). Taken together, this spatial and behavioural information is therefore essential to the development of more effective conservation measures (Hammerschlag et al, 2016;Sequeira et al, 2019;Hindell et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blue sharks are one of the most exploited species by pelagic longline fisheries, with populations declining by ∼40% since the 1970s (Baum et al, 2003;Pacoureau et al, 2021) largely as a result of high mortality risk from fishing (Queiroz et al, 2016(Queiroz et al, , 2019. Despite recently established fishing quotas for blue sharks in some regions, the uncertainty in current stock assessments make understanding shark finescale behaviour a priority for effective conservation management (Hammerschlag et al, 2016;Robinson et al, 2017;Boerder et al, 2019). To address these knowledge gaps, we used pop-off satellitelinked archival transmitters (PSATs) attached to adult blue sharks in the North Atlantic Ocean, to investigate potential coupling between open-ocean shark DVM with environmental fields and to identify both the spatial and temporal risks posed by longline fishing in the region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oceanic Diel Vertical Movement Patterns of Blue Sharks Vary With Water Temperature and Productivity to Change Vulnerability to Fishing

et al. 2021

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In the pelagic environment diel vertical movements (DVM) are widespread across taxa, from zooplankton ascending from day-time depths into surface layers at night to avoid visual predators, to apex predators following prey movements to maximise foraging opportunities. The drivers of DVM in large predators such as pelagic sharks have only recently begun to be investigated in detail with the advent of sophisticated archival tags and high-resolution oceanographic datasets. In this study, we satellite tagged adult [>180 cm fork length, (FL)] blue sharks (Prionace glauca) in the North Atlantic Ocean to examine behavioural changes in response to the encountered environment, and therefore, to determine potential risks of capture using pelagic longline fisheries data. Although blue sharks recurrently use surface waters, cyclic diel behaviours were observed, with >95% of night-time spent above 250 m depth and variable day-time depth use. Hence, three different diel behaviours were identified during the tracking period: (i) regular normal DVM (nDVM) (dawn descent – dusk ascent, with over 90% of nighttime spent above 250 m, and between 5 and 50% of the day below this threshold); (ii) surface-oriented behaviour (occupation of surface waters both day and night), and (iii) deep depth-oriented nDVM [dawn descent – dusk ascent, with the majority (>50%) of daytime spent at depth]. Importantly, diel behaviours generally occurred in different ocean regions with nDVM frequently observed in high latitudes, associated with cold, highly productive waters (e.g., North Atlantic Current/Labrador Current convergence zone, West African upwelling area), while depth-oriented nDVM was observed in warm, oligotrophic areas. Thus, day-time occupation of shallow waters significantly increased with lower water temperature at depth (100 m), and with increasing concentration (and decreasing depth) of the chlorophyll a maximum. During nights of full moon blue sharks spent significantly more time in the depth range of longline hooks, while fishing effort and catches were also higher. We demonstrate that increased occupancy of surface layers driven by highly productive, cold waters and greater lunar illumination lead to higher capture risk. Understanding habitat-specific vulnerability to fishing in a commercially important pelagic shark species is essential for improving management and conservation measures.

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Section: Diel Vertical Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lunar Phase and Overlap With Surface Longlining Hooksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oceanic Diel Vertical Movement Patterns of Blue Sharks Vary With Water Temperature and Productivity to Change Vulnerability to Fishing

et al. 2021

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“…Caribbean reef sharks exhibited frequent, yet sporadic, off-bank excursions (every few hours) beyond the high-use vertical bands, and particularly, beyond 50 m. These vertical excursions occurred more frequently during the night, when sharks may forage more actively [59]. The diet of Caribbean reef sharks is reportedly broad (teleosts and cephalopods [60]); therefore, individuals could be exploiting a diverse prey pool on mesophotic reefs (approx.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal and vertical movements of Caribbean reef sharks ( Carcharhinus perezi ): conservation implications of limited migration in a marine sanctuary

et al. 2017

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Despite the ecological and economic importance of the Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi), little data exist regarding the movements and habitat use of this predator across its range. We deployed 11 pop-up satellite archival tags on Caribbean reef sharks captured in the northeast Exuma Sound, The Bahamas, to assess their horizontal and vertical movements throughout the water column. Sharks showed high site fidelity to The Bahamas suggesting Bahamian subpopulations remain protected within the Bahamian Shark Sanctuary. Depth data indicate that Caribbean reef sharks spent a significant proportion (72–91%) of their time above 50 m in narrow vertical depth bands, which varied considerably on an individual basis. This may be indicative of high site fidelity to specific bathymetric features. Animals exhibited three broadly categorized sporadic off-bank excursions (more than 50 m excursions) down to a depth of 436.1 m, which were more frequent during the night. These deeper excursions during night may be indicative of foraging in relation to prey on mesophotic reefs, as well as diel-vertically migrating prey from the deeper meso- and bathypelagic zones. These vertical movements suggest that Caribbean reef sharks can be significant vectors of ecosystem connectivity further warranting holistic multi-system management and conservation approaches.

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Drivers of spatial behaviour of the endangered undulate skate, Raja undulata

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Villegas‐Ríos

Mucientes

et al. 2021

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Knowledge of the spatial behaviour of aquatic living resources is essential to assess their vulnerability to environmental and anthropogenic stressors and inform efficient management strategies.2. Elasmobranchs are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Within this group of fish, the implementation of species-specific conservation actions has been challenging due to insufficient information on their biology and ecology.3. In this study, acoustic telemetry was used to investigate the seasonal variation, diel patterns, and biological and sea temperature effects on the spatial behaviour of the endangered undulate skate, Raja undulata, within a marine protected area in north-west Spain.4. Movement and behaviour were mainly driven by diel and seasonal patterns. The presence of the tagged skates in the study area peaked during summer. Space use

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Nocturnal and crepuscular behavior in elasmobranchs: a review of movement, habitat use, foraging, and reproduction in the dark

Cited by 20 publications

References 42 publications

Oceanic Diel Vertical Movement Patterns of Blue Sharks Vary With Water Temperature and Productivity to Change Vulnerability to Fishing

Oceanic Diel Vertical Movement Patterns of Blue Sharks Vary With Water Temperature and Productivity to Change Vulnerability to Fishing

Horizontal and vertical movements of Caribbean reef sharks ( Carcharhinus perezi ): conservation implications of limited migration in a marine sanctuary

Drivers of spatial behaviour of the endangered undulate skate, Raja undulata

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