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Shark predation of sea snakes (Reptilia: Elapidae) in the shallow waters around the Yaeyama Islands of the southern Ryukyus, Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2009

Gen Masunaga ,
Takeharu Kosuge ,
Noriko Asai  and
Hidetoshi Ota
Gen Masunaga
Affiliation:
Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
Takeharu Kosuge
Affiliation:
Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Ishigaki Tropical Station, 148-446 Fukai Ota, Ishigaki, Okinawa 907-0451, Japan
Noriko Asai
Affiliation:
Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Ishigaki Tropical Station, 148-446 Fukai Ota, Ishigaki, Okinawa 907-0451, Japan
Hidetoshi Ota*
Affiliation:
Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Hidetoshi Ota, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan email: ota@sci.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
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Abstract

Stomach contents of 845 wild-captured elasmobranchs (representing 21 species of more than 13 genera) from the Yaeyama area, southern Ryukyus, were examined for the elapid sea snakes. These specimens included 496 tiger sharks Galeocerdo cuvier, of which 343 had prey remains and 48 had sea snakes. Of the others, one of the 29 nurse sharks Nebrius concolor (including 23 with some items in stomachs) and the one smooth hammerhead shark Sphyrna zygaena also had sea snakes, whereas the remainder, including 187 with some prey remains in stomachs, had no sea snakes. Six of the seven sea snake species hitherto recorded from the Yaeyama area, including Pelamis platura, for which very little is known about its predator, were found from the tiger shark stomachs.

Keywords

tiger sharkmarine snakesPelamisdietEast Asia
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 1 , January 2008 , e96
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2007

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