Range extension of the Endangered great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran in the Northwest Atlantic: preliminary data and significance for conservation
Published on 27. January 2011
Neil Hammerschlag, Austin J. Gallagher, Dominique M. Lazarre, Curt Slonim.
ABSTRACT:
We provide pilot data from a satellite-tracked great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran
in the Atlantic, representing the first such data on this species in the literature. The 250 cm shark
was tagged off the coast of the middle-Florida Keys (USA) and transmitted for 62 d. During this time
it migrated a minimum distance of ~1200 km northeast from the coast of Florida, into pelagic international
waters of the Northwest Atlantic. When compared to the primary literature, this migration represented
a northeasterly range extension for this species off the continental slope in the Atlantic. The
significance of this range extension is discussed in terms of the vulnerability of S. mokarran to target
and non-target fisheries.
ENDANGERED SPECIES RESEARCH, Vol. 13: 111–116, 2011 doi: 10.3354/esr00332