Validated age estimates for large white sharks of the northeastern Pacific Ocean

paperPublished on 08. August 2014

Validated age estimates for large white sharks of the northeastern Pacific Ocean: altered perceptions of vertebral growth shed light on complicated bomb Δ14C results

Allen H. Andrews, Lisa A. Kerr

ABSTRACT:

Age validation studies of large shark species using bomb radiocarbon (14C) dating have revealed that the growth of vertebrae can cease in adults. In a previous study of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) of the northeastern Pacific Ocean the latest growth material (leading edge of the corpus calcareum) was assigned a known date-of-formation assumed to coincide with the individual’s date of capture. This perspective prevented the assignment of older years of formation (a shift in age) to this material, leading to complicated results and no validated age estimates. A reanalysis of the bomb 14C data, in light of the recent findings for other species, has led to a validated lifespan estimate exceeding 30 years for white sharks of the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

Environmental Biology of Fishes, August 2014, DOI 10.1007/s10641-014-0326-8

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