Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T11:12:12.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Further observations on foetal abnormalities in the blue shark Prionace glauca (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhinidae) from north-west Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2011

Olga Marcela Bejarano-Álvarez
Affiliation:
Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR-IPN), Av. IPN s/n Col, Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, Baja California Sur CP 23096, Mexico
Felipe Galván-Magaña*
Affiliation:
Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR-IPN), Av. IPN s/n Col, Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, Baja California Sur CP 23096, Mexico
Rosa I. Ochoa-Báez
Affiliation:
Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR-IPN), Av. IPN s/n Col, Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, Baja California Sur CP 23096, Mexico
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: F. Galván-Magaña, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR-IPN), Departamento de Pesquerías y Biología Marina, Av. IPN s/n Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, BCS CP 23096Mexico email: galvan.felipe@gmail.com
Get access

Abstract

Information on morphological abnormalities in the cephalic region of three female blue sharks' (Prionace glauca) foetuses found in Baja California Sur, Mexico, is included. In one foetus with bicephaly, the liver was shared. In the other two foetuses they do not have eyes, and part of their snout was not well-developed, with malformations in cranial cartilage and gill slits. A possible explanation for these deformities in blue shark embryos is that the blue shark is the most fecund shark worldwide with the highest number of embryos produced and not all embryos can be developed in their small uteri.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

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

Bonfil, R.S. (1989) An abnormal embryo of the reef shark Carcharhinus perezi (Poey) from Yucatan, Mexico. Northeast Gulf Science 10, 153155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castro-Aguirre, J.L. and Torres-Villegas, J.R. (1979) Sobre un caso de bicefalia funcional en Rhinoptera steindachneri Evermann y Jenkins (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii, Batoidea), capturado en la costa occidental de Baja California, Mexico. Ciencias Marinas 6, 2741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Compagno, L.J.V. (1984) Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2. Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fisheries Synopsis. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
De Jesus-Roldan, M. (1990) An albino bat ray Myliobatis californica, from the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico. California Fish and Game 76, 126127.Google Scholar
Escobar-Sanchez, O., Galvan-Magaña, F., Downton-Hoffman, C.A., Carrera-Fernandez, M. and Alatorre-Ramirez, V.G. (2008) First record of a morphological abnormality in the longtail stingray Dasyatis longa (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. JMBA2—Biodiversity Records, 13.Google Scholar
Ferreira, L.A., Ferreira, T.G.A. and Amorim, A.F. (2002) Embryo anomaly of blue shark, Prionace glauca (Linnaeus, 1758) Carcharhinidae, Carcharhiniformes. In III Reunião da Sociedade Brasileira para Estudo em Elasmobrãnquios SBEEL, Caderno de resumos. João Pessoa: SBEEL, pp. 3839.Google Scholar
Galván-Magaña, F., Escobar-Sánchez, O. and Carrera-Fernández, M. (2011) Embryonic bicephaly in the blue shark, Prionace glauca, from the Mexican Pacific Ocean. Marine Biodiversity Records 4, e1. doi.10.1017/S1755267210001120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goto, M., Taninuchi, T., Kuga, N. and Iwata, M. (1981) Four dicephalous specimens of blue shark, Prionace glauca, from Japan. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 28, 157165.Google Scholar
Heupel, M.R., Simpfendorfer, C.A. and Bennett, M.B. (1999) Skeletal deformities in elasmobranchs from Australian waters. Journal of Fish Biology 54, 11111115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, E. (1961) An albino cownose ray, Rhinoptera bonasus (Mitchill) from Chesapeake Bay. Copeia 1961, 482483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mancini, P.L., Casas, A.L. and Amorim, A.F. (2006) Morphological abnormalities in a blue shark Prionace glauca (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhinidae) foetus from southern Brazil. Journal of Fish Biology 69, 18811884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenzie, M.D. (1970) First record of albinism in the hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini (Pisces, Sphyrnidae). Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 86, 3537.Google Scholar
Officer, R.A., Clement, J.G. and Rowler, D.K. (1995) Vertebral deformities in a school shark, Galeorhinus galeus: circumstantial evidence for endoskeletal resorption? Journal of Fish Biology 46, 8598.Google Scholar
Rosa, R.S., Gomes, U.L. and Gadig, O.B.F. (1996) Um caso de teratogenia na raia de água doce Potamotrygon motoro (Natterer in Muller & Henle, 1841) (Chondrichthyes: Potamotrygonidae). Revista Nordestina de Biologia 11, 125132.Google Scholar
Sandoval-Castillo, J., Mariano-Meléndez, E. and Villavicencio-Garayzar, C.J. (2006) New records of albinism in two elasmobranchs: the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier and the giant electric ray Narcine entemedor. Cybium 30, 191192.Google Scholar
Schwartz, F.J. (1959) White cownose ray, Rhinoptera bonasus, from Tangier Sound, Maryland. Maryland Tidewater News 15(3), 12.Google Scholar
Talent, L.G. (1973) Albinism in embryo gray smoothhound sharks, Mustelus californicus, from Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay, California, Copeia 1973, 595597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Templeman, W. (1965) Some abnormalities in skates (Raja) of the Newfoundland area. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 22, 237238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar