Residency patterns and migration dynamics of adult bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) on the east coast of southern Africa:

Bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) are globally distributed top predators that play an important ecological role within coastal marine communities. However, little is known about the spatial and temporal scales of their habitat use and associated ecological role. In this study, we employed passive acoustic telemetry to investigate the residency patterns and migration dynamics of 18 adult bull sharks (195–283 cm total length) tagged in southern Mozambique for a period of between 10 and 22 months. The majority of sharks (n = 16) exhibited temporally and spatially variable residency patterns interspersed with migration events. Ten individuals undertook coastal migrations that ranged between 433 and 709 km (mean  = 533 km) with eight of these sharks returning to the study site

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

This is the final version. Available on open access from the American Association for the Advancement of Science via the DOI in this recordData and materials availability: Processed data and code used in the analysis are accessible from the Zenodo Repository: 10.5281/zenodo.6885455Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements.Bertarelli FoundationResearch EnglandMoore FoundationPackard FoundationInstituto Politecnico NacionalDarwin InitiativeGeorgia AquariumRolex Awards for EnterpriseWhitley Fund for Natur

Short CommunicationOtoliths and vertebrae as potential hard structures for ageing South African yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares

Sagittal otoliths and vertebrae from 46 yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares (118–175 cm fork length) collected off the west coast of South Africa were assessed for potential usefulness in age estimation. Growth increments were found on both structures. Comparisons of growth increment counts showed that agreement in the counts of the number of growth increments was low (33–44%) but that most (90–94%) agreed to within one growth increment. Growth increment counts  from whole otoliths, sectioned otoliths and vertebrae were not significantly different (t-test, p < 0.05). Among-reader precision was high for both whole otoliths (average percent error [APE] = 9.8%) and vertebrae (APE = 12.1%), but low for sectioned otoliths (APE = 34.9%). Age-bias plots indicated non-linear bias when sectioned otoliths were assessed in relation to other structures. Whole otoliths and whole vertebrae were considered equally precise, but the practicality of collecting vertebrae from the commercial fishery was better. Vertebrae are recommended as the most suitable structure for ageing yellowfin tuna. Keywords: age estimation; annuli; otoliths; precision; South Africa; vertebraeAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2009, 31(2): 271–27