Evidence of long-distance movement of green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) in Western Australia

Jack Ingelbrecht; Mark G. Allen; Rebecca L. Bateman; Brendan C. Ebner; Travis Fazeldean; Kurt N. Krispyn; Karissa O. Lear; Tegan Lee; Alan J. Lymbery; Rory B. McAuley; Nicole M. Phillips; Jeff M. Whitty; Barbara E. Wueringer; David L. Morgan

doi:10.1071/MF24154

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Contents Vol 75(17)

Evidence of long-distance movement of green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) in Western Australia

Jack Ingelbrecht

^A , Mark G. Allen ^A , Rebecca L. Bateman ^A , Brendan C. Ebner ^A ^B , Travis Fazeldean ^A , Kurt N. Krispyn ^A , Karissa O. Lear

^A , Tegan Lee ^A , Alan J. Lymbery ^A , Rory B. McAuley ^C , Nicole M. Phillips ^D , Jeff M. Whitty ^A , Barbara E. Wueringer ^E ^F and David L. Morgan ^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.

^B New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Grafton Fisheries Centre, Grafton, NSW 2460, Australia.

^C School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

^D School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, USA.

^E Sharks And Rays Australia, Bungalow, Qld 4870, Australia.

^F School of Natural Sciences, Wallumattagal Campus, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: d.morgan@murdoch.edu.au

Handling Editor: Bradley Wetherbee

Marine and Freshwater Research 75, MF24154 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF24154

Submitted: 8 July 2024 Accepted: 30 October 2024 Published: 21 November 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

In this study, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used to investigate kinship for the green sawfish (Pristis zijsron).

Aims

To examine the relatedness of P. zijsron across an expansive coastline in Western Australia.

Methods

Sampling was conducted between the Fitzroy River estuary and Bay of Rest in the eastern Indian Ocean (north-western Australia) between 2003 and 2022. SNPs were generated from tissues collected from 137 live and 1 recently deceased P. zijsron.

Key results

Overall, 62 individual P. zijsron were assigned to 25 litters of full siblings, with litter sizes ranging from 2 to 5 pups, and 76 P. zijsron individuals were assigned to 96 half sibling pairwise relationships. Four pairs of half siblings were captured more than 500 km and born at least 6 years apart, including one pair of neonates captured ~870 km and 8 years apart, in the Ashburton River estuary (Pilbara) and Cable Beach (Broome). Furthermore, a pair of full-sibling pups (i.e. young of the year) caught at Cape Keraudren (Pilbara) in 2008 were half siblings of a pup caught in the Ashburton River in 2014.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence of long-distance, likely parental, movement of P. zijsron.

Implications

Dispersal of P. zijsron over large spatial scales indicates that populations could be replenished from elsewhere should they experience a decline, thereby reducing the risk of localised extinction for this species.

Keywords: dispersal, Kimberley, Pedigree, Pilbara, Pristidae, reproduction, Rhinopristiformes, sibship, single-nucleotide polymorphism.

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