Strongly directional and differential swimming behavior of an adult female white shark from Guadalupe Island

paperPublished in March 2015

Strongly directional and differential swimming behavior of an adult female white shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Chondrichthyes: Lamnidae) from Guadalupe Island, Mexico.

Ramón Bonfil, Shannon O΄Brien

ABSTRACT:

We report on an adult female white shark tracked for 288 days and 7,100 km in the NE Pacific Ocean. The shark, tagged with a real-time satellite tag off Guadalupe Island, Mexico in October 2006, remained around the island for 3.5 months but left in early February 2007 for a ca. 3,900 km westward migration. Heading and swimming speed data showed that: a) the arc-like route followed by this shark during oceanic travel involved strongly directional rapid movement, and b) once the shark arrived to a specific (ca. 680 km wide) area located 790 km north-northeast of the Hawaiian Islands, it switched into a distinct roaming behavior. The shark remained in this roaming area from late March to at least late July 2007. We show that real-time satellite tags can provide unique and valuable information about the migratory behavior of white sharks.

Latin American Journal of Aquatic Research, 43(1): 267-273, DOI: 10.3856/vol43-issue1-fulltext-24

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