Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:56:47.785Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

When prey becomes killer: does a double lethal attack on a blue shark reveal a precise defensive strategy in young swordfish?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2020

Teresa Romeo ,
Pietro Battaglia Open the ORCID record for Pietro Battaglia [Opens in a new window] ,
Domenico Macaluso ,
Giuseppe Tagliavia ,
Teresa Manuela Vicchio ,
Manuela Falautano Open the ORCID record for Manuela Falautano [Opens in a new window] ,
Fabrizio Serena Open the ORCID record for Fabrizio Serena [Opens in a new window]  and
Franco Andaloro
Teresa Romeo
Affiliation:
SZN, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Centro Interdipartimentale della Sicilia, Villa Pace, Contrada Porticatello 29, 98167Messina, Italy ISPRA, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo 4521, 90149Palermo, Italy
Pietro Battaglia*
Affiliation:
SZN, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Centro Interdipartimentale della Sicilia, Villa Pace, Contrada Porticatello 29, 98167Messina, Italy
Domenico Macaluso
Affiliation:
Azienda Sanitaria Provinciale, Viale della Vittoria 321, 92100Agrigento, Italy
Giuseppe Tagliavia
Affiliation:
Centro Radiologia Diagnostica Tagliavia, Via Verona 7, 92019Sciacca (AG), Italy
Teresa Manuela Vicchio
Affiliation:
Independent researcher, Via N. Panoramica 1188, Messina, Italy
Manuela Falautano
Affiliation:
ISPRA, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo 4521, 90149Palermo, Italy
Fabrizio Serena
Affiliation:
Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnologies (IRBIM), National Research Council – (CNR), Via Vaccara, 61–91026, Mazara del Vallo (TP), Italy
Franco Andaloro
Affiliation:
SZN, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Centro Interdipartimentale della Sicilia, Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo 4521, 90149Palermo, Italy
*
Author for correspondence: Pietro Battaglia, E-mail: pietro.battaglia@szn.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper a rare case of a double swordfish mortal attack against an adult blue shark (Prionace glauca) is reported. A female blue shark, with a total length of 3 m, was found stranded along the southern Sicilian coast (Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea) on 30 May 2018. The analysis of this carcass revealed the presence of two swordfish bill fragments, impaled in the shark head; the former on the snout, the latter near the eye. The results of anatomical and computed tomography scanning analysis on the head of the blue shark showed that the larger bill fragment (19.7 cm) probably determined the death of this animal, having been impaled in a vital point, just behind the right eye. The analysis of both these events and other similar swordfish-shark interactions reported in the literature makes possible the hypothesis that young swordfish specimens put in place a precise defensive strategy against their potential predators or competitors, aimed at hitting vulnerable and vital points and delivering a mortal blow.

Keywords

Behaviourcomputed tomography scanningimpalementMediterranean SeaPrionace glaucaXiphias gladius
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 100 , Issue 5 , August 2020 , pp. 831 - 836
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2020

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

Abid, N, Laglaoui, A, Arakrak, A and Bakkali, M (2019) The reproductive biology of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the Strait of Gibraltar. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 99, 649–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battaglia, P, Perzia, P, Pedà, C, Esposito, V, Consoli, P, Andaloro, F and Romeo, T (2018) Evolution, crisis and new scenarios of the Italian swordfish harpoon fishery. Regional Studies in Marine Science 21, 94–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bearzi, G, Politi, E, Agazzi, S and Azzellino, A (2006) Prey depletion caused by overfishing and the decline of marine megafauna in eastern Ionian Sea coastal waters (central Mediterranean). Biological Conservation 127, 373–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bello, G (1996) Teuthofagous predators as collectors of oceanic cephalopods: the case of the Adriatic Sea. Bollettino Malacologico 32, 71–78.Google Scholar
Bigelow, KA, Boggs, CH and He, XI (1999) Environmental effects on swordfish and blue shark catch rates in the US North Pacific longline fishery. Fisheries Oceanography 8, 178–198.Google Scholar
Braun, CD, Kaplan, MB, Horodysky, AZ and Llopiz, JK (2015) Satellite telemetry reveals physical processes driving billfish behavior. Animal Biotelemetry 3, 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campana, SE, Joyce, W and Manning, MJ (2009) Bycatch and discard mortality in commercially caught blue sharks Prionace glauca assessed using archival satellite pop-up tags. Marine Ecology Progress Series 387, 241–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canese, S, Garibaldi, F, Orsi Relini, L and Greco, S (2008) Swordfish tagging with pop-up satellite tags in the Mediterranean Sea. Collective Volume of Scientific Papers ICCAT 62, 1052–1057.Google Scholar
Carey, FG (1990) Further acoustic telemetry observation of swordfish. In Stroud, RH (ed.), Second International Billfish Symposium Proceedings. Planning the Future of Billfishes: Research and Management in the 90s and Beyond. Savannah, GA: National Coalition for Marine Conservation, pp. 103–122.Google Scholar
Carey, FG and Robinson, BH (1981) Daily patterns in the activity of swordfish, Xiphias gladius, observed by acoustic telemetry. Fishery Bulletin 79, 277–292.Google Scholar
Clarke, MR, Clarke, DC, Martins, HR and Silva, HM (1996) The diet of the blue shark (Prionace glauca L.) in Azorean waters. Arquipélago. Ciências Biológicas e Marinhas 14A, 41–56.Google Scholar
Cliff, G, Dudley, SFJ and Davis, B (1990) Sharks caught in the protective gill nets off Natal, South Africa. 3. The shortfin mako shark, lsurus oxyrinchus (Rafinesque). South African Journal of Marine Science 9, 115–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collette, B, Acero, A, Amorim, AF, Bizsel, K, Boustany, A, Canales Ramirez, C, Cardenas, G, Carpenter, KE, de Oliveira Leite, N Jr, Di Natale, A, Die, D, Fox, W, Fredou, FL, Graves, J, Guzman-Mora, A, Viera Hazin, FH, Hinton, M, Juan Jorda, M, Minte Vera, C, Miyabe, N, Montano Cruz, R, Masuti, E, Nelson, R, Oxenford, H, Restrepo, V, Salas, E, Schaefer, K, Schratwieser, J, Serra, R, Sun, C, Teixeira Lessa, RP, Pires Ferreira Travassos, PE, Uozumi, Y and Yanez, E (2011) Xiphias gladius (errata version published in 2016). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T23148A88828055. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-2.RLTS.T23148A9422329.en.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Compagno, LJ (1984) Sharks of the World: An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Shark Species Known to Date. Part 2. Carcharhiniformes. FAO Species Catalogue. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Damalas, D and Megalofonou, P (2010) Environmental effects on blue shark (Prionace glauca) and oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus) distribution based on fishery-dependent data from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 90, 467–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Metrio, G, Petrosino, G, Montanaro, C, Matarrese, A, Lenti, M and Cecere, E (1984) Survey on summer-autumn population of Prionace glauca L. (Pisces, Chondrichthyes) in the Gulf of Taranto (Italy) during the four year period 1978–1981 and its incidence on sword-fish (Xiphias gladius L.) and albacore (Thunnus alalunga (Bonn)) fishing. Oebalia 10, 105–116.Google Scholar
Ebert, DA, Fowler, S and Compagno, L (2013) Sharks of the World. Plymouth: Wild Nature Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, R (2013) Swordfish: A Biography of the Ocean Gladiator. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 279 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fierstine, HL and Voigt, NL (1996) Use of rostral characters for identifying adult billfishes (Teleostei: Perciformes: Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae). Copeia 1996, 148–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fierstine, HL, Cailliet, GM and Neer, JA (1997) Shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus, impaled by blue marlin, Makaira nigricans (Teleostei: Istiophoridae). Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Science 3, 117–121.Google Scholar
Frazier, JG, Fierstine, HL, Beavers, SC, Achaval, F, Suganuma, H, Pitman, RL, Yamaguchi, Y and Prigioni, CM (1994) Impalement of marine turtles (Reptilia, Chelonia: Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae) by billfishes (Osteichthyes, Perciformes: Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae). Environmental Biology of Fishes 39, 85–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garibaldi, F (2015 a) By-catch in the mesopelagic swordfish longline fishery in the Ligurian Sea (Western Mediterranean). Collective Volume of Scientifics Papers ICCAT 71, 1495–1498.Google Scholar
Garibaldi, F (2015 b) Effects of the introduction of the mesopelagic longline on catches and size structure of swordfish in the Ligurian sea (western Mediterranean). Collective Volume of Scientific Papers ICCAT 71, 2006–2014.Google Scholar
Georgiadou, D, Zografos, GN, Vaidakis, D, Avlonitis, S, Katopodi, A, Tzirakis, E, Sioutos, P, Drossos, C, Lampropoulou, P and Papastratis, G (2010) Swordfish bill injury involving abdomen and vertebral column: case report and review. BMC Surgery 10, 30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gudger, EW (1938) Tales of attacks by the ocean gladiator – how the swordfish, Xiphias gladius, wreaks occasional vengeance by spearing the dories of the fishermen who persecute him. Natural History 41, 128–137.Google Scholar
Gudger, EW (1940) The alleged pugnacity of the swordfish and the spearfishes as shown by their attacks on vessels: a study of their behavior and the structures which make possible these attacks. Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 12, 215–315.Google Scholar
Habegger, ML, Dean, MN, Dunlop, JW, Mullins, G, Stokes, M, Huber, DR, Winters, D and Motta, PJ (2015) Feeding in billfishes: inferring the role of the rostrum from a biomechanical standpoint. Journal of Experimental Biology 218, 824–836.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hernandez-Aguilar, SB, Escobar-Sanchez, O, Galvan-Magaña, F and Abitia-Cardenas, LA (2015) Trophic ecology of the blue shark (Prionace glauca) based on stable isotopes (δ 13C and δ 15N) and stomach content. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 96, 1403–1410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerner, JD, Kerstetter, DW, Prince, ED, Talaue-McManus, L, Orbesen, ES, Mariano, A, Snodgrass, D and Thomas, GL (2013) Swordfish vertical distribution and habitat use in relation to diel and lunar cycles in the western North Atlantic. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 142, 95–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopez, S, Meléndez, R and Barría, P (2010) Preliminary diet analysis of the blue shark Prionace glauca in the eastern South Pacific. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 45(Suppl. 1), 745–749.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macías, D, De la Serna, J, Gomez-Vives, MJ and Godoy, D (2005) Reproductive characteristics of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) caught in the southwestern Mediterranean during 2003. Collective Volume of Scientific Papers ICCAT 58, 454–469.Google Scholar
Markaida, U and Sosa-Nishizaki, O (2010) Food and feeding habits of the blue shark Prionace glauca caught off Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, with a review on its feeding. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 90, 977–994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Megalofonou, P, Yannopoulos, C, Damalas, D, De Metrio, G, Deflorio, M, de la Serna J, M and Macias, D (2005) Incidental catch and estimated discards of pelagic sharks from the swordfish and tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea. Fishery Bulletin 103, 620–634.Google Scholar
Megalofonou, P, Damalas, D, Deflorio, M and De Metrio, G (2009) Modeling environmental, spatial, temporal, and operational effects on blue shark by catches in the Mediterranean long-line fishery. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 25, 47–55.Google Scholar
Nakano, H and Seki, MP (2003) Synopsis of biological data on the blue shark, Prionace glauca Linnaeus. Bulletin of Fisheries Research Agency 6, 18–55.Google Scholar
Palko, BJ, Beardsley, GL and Richards, WJ (1981) Synopsis of the biology of the swordfish. Xiphias gladius. FAO Fisheries Synopsis 127, 21.Google Scholar
Penadés-Suay, J, Tomás, J and Aznar, F (2017) Fatal impalement of a blue shark Prionace glauca by a swordfish Xiphias gladius. Mediterranean Marine Science 18, 340–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penadés-Suay, J, Garcia-Salinas, P, Tomas, J and Aznar, FJ (2019) Aggressive interactions between juvenile swordfishes and blue sharks in the Western Mediterranean: a widespread phenomenon? Mediterranean Marine Science 20, 314–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rigby, CL, Barreto, R, Carlson, J, Fernando, D, Fordham, S, Francis, MP, Herman, K, Jabado, RW, Liu, KM, Marshall, A, Pacoureau, N, Romanov, E, Sherley, RB and Winker, H (2019) Prionace glauca. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T39381A2915850. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T39381A2915850.en.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romeo, T, Consoli, P, Greco, S, Canese, S and Andaloro, F (2009) Swordfish (Xiphias gladius, Teleostea: Xiphiidae) surface behaviour during reproductive period in the central Mediterranean Sea (southern Tyrrhenian Sea). Marine Biodiversity Records 2, e45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romeo, T, Battaglia, P, Pedà, C, Perzia, P, Consoli, P, Esposito, V and Andaloro, F (2011 a) Pelagic cephalopods of the central Mediterranean Sea determined by the analysis of the stomach content of large fish predators. Helgoland Marine Research 66, 295–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romeo, T, Perzia, P, Esposito, V, Malara, D, Battaglia, P, Consoli, P, Canese, S and Andaloro, F (2011 b) Relationship between swordfish swimming behaviour and sea surface temperature in the central Mediterranean Sea during the reproductive period. Marine Biology Research 7, 186–194.Google Scholar
Romeo, T, Battaglia, P, Raicevich, S, Perzia, P and Andaloro, F (2015) Swordfish harpoon fishery in the Mediterranean Sea: recent data to implement the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EcAp (Ecosystem Approach) process. Fisheries Research 161, 191–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romeo, T, Ammendolia, G, Canese, S, Andaloro, F and Battaglia, P (2017) Recent records of swordfish attacks on harpoon vessels in the Sicilian waters (Mediterranean Sea). Acta Adriatica 58, 147–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serena, F and Silvestri, R (2018) Preliminary observations on juvenile shark catches as by-catch of the Italian fisheries with particular attention to the Tuscany coasts. In Proceedings of XX Congress of Codice Armonico, 18b Scientific Sez., Rosignano Marittimo, 11–13 October 2018, Livorno, Italy. pp. 158–169.Google Scholar
Sisci, R (1984) La caccia al pescespada nello Stretto di Messina. Messina: Sfameni ed.Google Scholar
Starck, WA (1960) Spear of swordfish, Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, embedded in a silk shark, Eulamia floridana (Schroeder and Springer). Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 23, 165–166.Google Scholar
Stevens, J (2009) Prionace glauca. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: e.T39381A10222811. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T39381A10222811.en.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, JD, Bradford, RW and West, GJ (2010) Satellite tagging of blue sharks (Prionace glauca) and other pelagic sharks off eastern Australia: depth behaviour, temperature experience and movements. Marine Biology 157, 575–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, M, Okamura, H, Yokawa, K and Okazaki, M (2003) Swimming behaviour and migration of a swordfish recorded by an archival tag. Marine and Freshwater Research 54, 527–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uchiyama, JH, De Martini, EE and Williams, HA (1999) Length-weight interrelationships for swordfish, Xiphias gladius L., caught in the central North Pacific. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-284.Google Scholar
Vacchi, M, Serena, F and Notarbartolo Di Sciara, G (2000) On a large specimen of bigeye thresher shark Alopias superciliosus (Lowe, 1839) (Chondrichthyes: Alopiidae) stranded in Tavolara Island (eastern Sardinia, Mediterranean). In Proceedings of the 3rd European Elasmobranch Association Meeting, Boulogne-sur-Mer (France), 27–29 May 1999. Paris: Société Française d'Ichtyology and IRD.Google Scholar
Vaske-Júnior, T, Lessa, RP and Gadig, OBF (2009) Feeding habits of the blue shark (Prionace glauca) off the coast of Brazil. Biota Neotropica 9, 55–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zarudski, EFK and Haedrich, RL (1974) Swordfish (Xiphius gladius) attacks submarine (ALVIN). Oceanology 3, 111–116.Google Scholar