Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T18:06:39.418Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fish otoliths from the stomach of a thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. L. Pascoe
P. L. Pascoe
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Introduction

On the 16 June 1982 a thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788), became entangled in a gill net at Bigbury Bay, S. Devon. The stomach contents were found to consist solely of teleost otoliths. The soft tissues of prey taken by large marine predators are often macerated and digested very rapidly or, as in this case, regurgitated during capture or stranding. Identification of the prey is therefore only possible from the hard parts which often remain, e.g. teleost otoliths, bones and scales, and cephalopod beaks, statoliths and gladiuses. The regular seasonal occurrences in the waters off south-west England and south-west Ireland make the thresher the most common of the large sharks in this area. Their accidental capture or collisions with nets are not rare and they have been taken by rod and line on several occasions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , May 1986 , pp. 315 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1986

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

Budker, P. 1971. The Life of Sharks. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.Google Scholar
Fiscus, C. H. & Niggol, K., 1965. Observation of cetaceans off California, Oregon and Washington. Special Scientific Report. United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (Fisheries), no. 498, 27 pp.Google Scholar
Fitch, J. E. & Brownell, R. L. Jr., 1968. Fish otoliths in cetacean stomachs and their importance in interpreting feeding habits. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 25, 2561–2574.Google Scholar
Gordon, J. D. M., 1977. The fish populations in inshore waters of the west coast of Scotland. The distribution, abundance and growth of the whiting (Merlangius merlangus L.). Journal of Fish Biology, 10, 587–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Letaconnoux, R., 1951. Contribution a l'étude des espèces du genre Trachurus et spécialement du Trachurus trachurus (Linné, 1758). Mémoires. Office scientifique et technique des pêches maritimes no. 15, 67 pp.Google Scholar
Norman, J. R. & Fraser, F. C., 1948. Giant Fishes, Whales and Dolphins. London: Putnam.Google Scholar
Schmidt, W., 1968. Vergleichend morphologische Studie über die Otolithen marine Knochenfische. Archiv für Fischereiwissenschaft, 19, 1–96.Google Scholar
Steven, G. A., 1952. Contributions to the biology of the mackerel, Scomber scombrus L. III. Age and growth. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 30, 549–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treacy, S. D. & Crawford, T. W., 1981. Retrieval of otoliths and statoliths from gastrointestinal contents and scats of marine mammals. Journal of Wildlife Management, 45, 990–993.Google Scholar
Wheeler, A., 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar