Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:36:50.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Recent whale shark (Rhincodon typus) beach strandings in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

C.W. Speed ,
M.G. Meekan ,
B.C. Russell  and
C.J.A. Bradshaw
C.W. Speed*
Affiliation:
Australian Institute of Marine Science, PO Box 40197, Casuarina MC, Northern Territory 0811, Australia School for Environmental Research, Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0809, Australia
M.G. Meekan
Affiliation:
Australian Institute of Marine Science, PO Box 40197, Casuarina MC, Northern Territory 0811, Australia
B.C. Russell
Affiliation:
Marine Biodiversity Group, Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, PO Box 496, Palmerston, Northern Territory 0831, Australia
C.J.A. Bradshaw
Affiliation:
School for Environmental Research, Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0809, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: C.W. Speed, Australian Institute of Marine Science, PO Box 40197, Casuarina MC, Northern Territory 0811, Australia email: c.speed@aims.gov.au
Get access

Abstract

We document two recent beach strandings of whale sharks on both the east and west coasts of Australia and compare them to strandings of other species of shark and cetaceans. Historically, whale shark stranding is an unusual phenomenon in Australia. Although the reasons for whale shark strandings are speculative, their low frequency suggests they are unlikely to pose any considerable threat to the population viability of this species in Australia.

Keywords

whale sharkRhincodon typusbeach strandingAustralia
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 2 , January 2009 , e15
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.)

Footnotes

4

Present address: Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia, and South Australian Research and Development Institute, PO Box 120, Henley Beach, South Australia 5022, Australia

References

REFERENCES

Australian Government Department of Defence (2007) Directorate of Oceanography and Meteorology, Sea Surface Temperature Tool: available online at http://www.metoc.gov.auGoogle Scholar
Beckley, L.E., Cliff, G., Smale, M.J. and Compagno, L.J.V. (1997) Recent strandings and sightings of whale sharks in South Africa. Environmental Biology of Fishes 50, 343–348.Google Scholar
Berra, T.M. and Hutchins, J.B. (1990) A specimen of megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios (Megachasmidae) from Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 14, 651–656.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, C.J.A., Evans, K. and Hindell, M. (2005) Mass cetacean strandings—a plea for empiricism. Conservation Biology 20, 584–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colman, J.G. (1997) A review of the biology and ecology of the whale shark. Journal of Fish Biology 51, 1219–1234.Google Scholar
Compagno, L.J.V. (2001) Sharks of the world. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes no. 1, vol. 2, 201–209.Google Scholar
Evans, K., Morrice, M. and Hindell, M. (2002) Three mass strandings of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in southern Australian waters. Marine Mammal Science 18, 622–643.Google Scholar
Evans, K., Thresher, R., Warneke, R.M., Bradshaw, C.J.A., Pook, M., Thiele, D. and Hindell, M. (2005) Periodic variability in cetacean strandings—links to large-scale climate events. Biology Letters 1, 147–150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fitzpatrick, B., Meekan, M. and Richards, A. (2006) Shark attacks on a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) at Ningaloo Reef, western Australia. Bulletin of Marine Science 78, 397–402.Google Scholar
Geraci, J.R. and Staubin, D.J. (1977) Mass stranding of long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melaena, on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 34, 2196–2199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudger, E.W. (1940) Whale sharks rammed by ocean vessels. How these sluggish leviathans aid in their own destruction. New England Naturalist 7, 1–10.Google Scholar
Hsu, H.H., Joung, S.J., Liao, Y.Y. and Liu, K.M. (2007) Satellite tracking of juvenile whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, in the Northwestern Pacific. Fisheries Research 84, 25–31.Google Scholar
Last, P.R. and Stevens, J.D. (1994) Sharks and rays of Australia. CSIRO.Google Scholar
Martin, R.A. (2004) Northerly distribution of white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, in the Eastern Pacific and relation to ENSO events. Marine Fisheries Review 66, 16–19.Google Scholar
Mignucci-Giannoni, A.A., Toyos-Gonzalez, G.M., Perez-Padilla, J., Rodriguez-Lopez, M.A. and Overing, J. (2000) Mass stranding of pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) in the British Virgin Islands. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 80, 759–760.Google Scholar
Rowat, D. and Gore, M. (2006) Regional scale horizontal and local scale veritcal movements of whale sharks in the Indian Ocean off Seychelles. Fisheries Research 84, 32–40.Google Scholar
Santos, M.B., Martin, V., Arbelo, M., Fernandez, A. and Pierce, G.J. (2007) Insights into the diet of beaked whales from the atypical mass stranding in the Canary Islands in September 2002. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87, 243–251.Google Scholar
Speed, C.W., Meekan, M.G., Rowat, D., Pierce, S.J., Marshall, A.D. and Bradshaw, C.J.A. (2008) Scarring patterns and relative mortality rates of Indian Ocean whale sharks. Journal of Fish Biology, in press.Google Scholar
Turnbull, S.D. and Randell, J.E. (2006) Rare occurrence of a Rhincodon typus (Whale shark) in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Northeast Naturalist 13, 57–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitley, G.P. (1940) The sharks, rays, devil-fish, and other primitive fishes of Australia and New Zealand. Sydney: Sydney and Melbourne Publishing Co. Pty. Ltd.Google Scholar
Whitley, G.P. (1965) The Whale Shark in New South Wales. Australian Natural History 15, 44–46.Google Scholar
Wilson, S.G., Polovina, J.J., Stewart, B.S. and Meekan, M.G. (2006) Movement of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) tagged at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Marine Biology 148, 1157–1166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfson, F.H. (1986) Occurrences of the whale sharks, Rhincodon typus Smith. In Uyeno, T. et al. (eds) Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes. Indo-Pacific Fish Biology. Tokyo: Ichthyological Society of Japan, pp. 208–226.Google Scholar