Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:11:11.334Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interactions between subantarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis) and cookiecutter shark (Isistius plutodus) on the coast of Bahia, north-eastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2009

Luciano Raimundo Alardo Souto ,
Janete Gomes Abrão-Oliveira ,
Rodrigo Maia-Nogueira  and
Luciano Wagner Dórea-Reis
Luciano Raimundo Alardo Souto*
Affiliation:
Centro de Resgate de Mamíferos Aquáticos (CRMA) do Instituto Mamíferos Aquáticos (IMA), Avenida Pinto de Aguiar, Rua dos Radioamadores, n.73, Pituaçu, 41741080, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Janete Gomes Abrão-Oliveira
Affiliation:
Centro de Pesquisa e Conservação dos Ecossistemas Aquáticos (BIOTA Aquática), Avenida Euclides da Cunha, 476, apartado 4B, Graça, 40150-120, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Rodrigo Maia-Nogueira
Affiliation:
Centro de Pesquisa e Conservação dos Ecossistemas Aquáticos (BIOTA Aquática), Avenida Euclides da Cunha, 476, apartado 4B, Graça, 40150-120, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil Universidade Católica do Salvador (UCSal), Avenida Prof. Pinto de Aguiar, 2589, Pituaçu, 40.710-000, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Luciano Wagner Dórea-Reis
Affiliation:
Centro de Resgate de Mamíferos Aquáticos (CRMA) do Instituto Mamíferos Aquáticos (IMA), Avenida Pinto de Aguiar, Rua dos Radioamadores, n.73, Pituaçu, 41741080, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L.R.A. Souto, Centro de Resgate de Mamíferos Aquáticos (CRMA) do Instituto Mamíferos Aquáticos (IMA), Avenida Pinto de Aguiar, Rua dos Radioamadores, n.73, Pituaçu, 41741080, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil email: lucianoalardo@yahoo.com.br
Get access

Abstract

The predation of pinnipeds by sharks in tropical or temperate regions is a significant cause of mortality of this group and little is known about these interactions off the Brazilian coast, since the records of these species are occasional, mainly in the north-eastern region. The objective of this study is to report the predator–prey interactions between sub-Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis) and cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) off the coast of Bahia. The present study was based on numbers of pinnipeds stranded, where there had been observed two specimens of sub-Antarctic fur seal, A. tropicalis. The diagnostic identification of shark predators was through the analysis of the morphology and conditions of the wounds compared with specialized literature. The measures are fit in category III, to whose height and width they are similar, suggesting to have been inferred for I. plutodus. This study confirms the necessity for continuing to study the interactions between sharks and pinnipeds in order to better understand the predator–prey relations off the Brazilian coast, as well as to question the extent to which these interactions cause the hindrance of this group.

Keywords

Arctocephalus tropicalisIsistius plutodusBahiaBrazil
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 2 , January 2009 , e123
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Cunha, C.M. and Gonzalez, M.B.M. (2000) Differentiation of the mutilation of Isistius brasiliensis (Quoy e Gaimard, 1824) and Squaliolus laticaudus Smith and Radcliffe, 1912 (Chondrichthyes, Squalidae) through the morphologic analysis of the mouth. Publicações Avulsas do Instituto Pau Brasil 3, 31–39.Google Scholar
Gadig, O.B.F. (2001) Tubarões da costa brasileira. Tese de Doutorado. Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Julio de Mesquita Filho’, Brasil, 342 pp.Google Scholar
Jefferson, T.A., Leatherwood, S. and Webber, M.A. (1993) Marine mammals of the world: FAO species identification guide. Rome: UNEP/FAO, 320 pp.Google Scholar
Klimley, A.P., Pyle, P. and Anderson, S.D. (1996) The behavior of white sharks and their pinniped prey during predatory attacks. In Klimley, A.P. and Ainley, D.G. (eds) Great white sharks: the biology of Carcharodon carcharias. London: Academic Press, pp. 175–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Bouef, B.J., McCosker, J.E. and Hewitt, J. (1987) Crater wounds on northern elephant seals: the cookiecutter shark strike again. Fishery Bulletin 8, 387–392.Google Scholar
Long, D.J., Hanni, K.D., Pyle, P., Roletto, J., Jones, R.E. and Bandar, R. (1996) White shark predation on four pinniped species in central California waters: geographic and temporal patterns inferred from wounded carcasses. In Klimley, A.P. and Ainley, D.G. (eds) Great white sharks: the biology of Carcharodon carcharias. London: Academic Press, pp. 263–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, M., Steiner, L. and Jann, B. (2003) Cetacean surveys in the Cape Verde islands and the use of cookiecutter shark bite lesions as a population marker for fin whales. Aquatic Mammals 29, 383–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riedman, M. (1990) The pinnipeds: seals, sea lions and walruses. London: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosas, F.C.W., Capistrano, L.C., Di Beneditto, A.P. and Ramos, R. (1992) Hydrurga leptonyx recovered from the stomach of tiger shark captured off the Rio de Jaeniro coast, Brazil. Mammalia 56, 153–155.Google Scholar
Soto, J.M.R. and Nisa-Castro-Neto, W. (1998) Sobre a presença dos tubarões-charuto, Isistius brasiliensis e Isistius plutodus (Squaliformes, Dalatiidae), no Atlântico Sul Ocidental. Resumos Expandidos da XI Semana Nacional de Oceanografia, Rio Grande, Brasil, pp. 326–328.Google Scholar
Souto, L.R.A., Abrão-Oliveira, J.G., Nunes, J.A.C.C., Maia-Nogueira, R. and Sampaio, C.L.S. (2007) Análises das mordidas de tubarões-charuto, Isistius spp. (Squaliformes: Dalatiidae) em cetáceos (Mammalia: Cetacea) no litoral da Bahia, nordeste do Brasil. Biotemas 20, 19–25.Google Scholar
Zidowitz, H., Fock, H.O., Ousch, C. and von Westernhagen, H. (2004) A first record of Isistius plutodus in the north-eastern Atlantic. Journal of Fish Biology 64, 1430–1434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar