Individual differences in diel and vertical activity patterns in a large pelagic predator, the oceanic whitetip shark

Diel activity patterns and fine-scale behavior of large pelagic fishes have been poorly studied relative to their coastal counterparts. In particular, little is known about how predator activity varies with time of day and vertical habitat. Measuring changes in activity can be challenging as these a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine biology Vol. 169; no. 11; p. 137
Main Authors: Papastamatiou, Yannis P., Leos-Barajas, Vianey, Howey, Lucy, Brooks, Edd, Chapman, Demian D., Watanabe, Yuuki
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2022
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Acceleration
Activity patterns
Bahamas
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carcharhinus longimanus
Carnivorous animals
Circadian rhythms
Comparative analysis
Depth
Diel activity
Exploratory behavior
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
habitats
Horizontal orientation
islands
Life Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Sciences
Marine biology
Marine fishes
Marking and tracking techniques
Markov chains
Microbiology
Ocean models
Oceanography
Original Paper
Pelagic fish
Predators
sample size
Sharks
Swimming
Tags
temperature
Time of use
Variability
Zoology
United States
Bahamas
Hunting tactics
Biologging
Sharks
ISSN:0025-3162, 1432-1793
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Diel activity patterns and fine-scale behavior of large pelagic fishes have been poorly studied relative to their coastal counterparts. In particular, little is known about how predator activity varies with time of day and vertical habitat. Measuring changes in activity can be challenging as these animals swim continuously so traditional metrics such as swimming depth and horizontal position may not be of sufficient resolution. Here, we use biologging tags (speed/acceleration/depth/temperature/video) and hidden Markov models, to quantify the behavior of oceanic whitetip sharks, Carcharhinus longimanus , off Cat Island, The Bahamas. Biologging tags were successfully retrieved from four sharks, providing a total of 9 days of data. Sharks showed a variety of patterns in diel activity, with some individuals more active at night while others were more active during the daytime. Sharks performed continuous bounce dives, but rarely swam to depths > 200 m, but again there was individual variability in behavior with some sharks most active at the apex of dives, while others were more active in shallower water. Sharks exerted minimal activity while descending during dives but could be in either a medium or high active state while ascending. Differences in ascent behavioral states may relate to circling and searching behavior. Despite a small sample size, we show a large amount of individual variability in terms of when sharks are most active and over which depths.
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ISSN:0025-3162
1432-1793
DOI:10.1007/s00227-022-04119-7