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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 74(16)

Ontogenetic habitat partitioning among four shark species within a nursery ground

Daniel P. Crear https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9045-3649 A E * , Cassidy D. Peterson https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0836-3039 B , Jeremy M. Higgs https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7669-5529 C , Jill M. Hendon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8339-5532 C and Eric R. Hoffmayer https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5297-9546 D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A ECS Federal, in Support of National Marine Fisheries Service, Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Management Division, Silver Spring, MD, USA.

B National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Beaufort, NC, USA.

C The University of Southern Mississippi, Center for Fisheries Research and Development, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, MS, USA.

D National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Pascagoula, MS, USA.

E Present address: Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, La Jolla, CA, USA.

* Correspondence to: dcrear8@gmail.com

Handling Editor: Colin Simpfendorfer

Marine and Freshwater Research 74(16) 1388-1403 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF23130
Submitted: 7 July 2023  Accepted: 5 October 2023  Published: 31 October 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Context

Nursery areas provide refuge from predators, rich foraging grounds, and physical conditions conducive to growth and development of juvenile inhabitants. Specifically, the Mississippi Sound in the northern Gulf of Mexico is likely a nursery ground for multiple large and small coastal sharks.

Aims and methods

Using over a decade of shark survey catch data, we employed habitat modelling approaches to identify preferred environmental conditions and spatial distribution, and quantify core habitat overlap within the Mississippi Sound for young-of-year (YOY), juvenile and adult life stages of four coastal shark species.

Results

YOY Atlantic sharpnose (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae), blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus) and finetooth (Carcharhinus isodon) sharks showed a preference for a combination of shallow, warm, low salinity, low dissolved oxygen and turbid waters. Corresponding to shared environmental preferences, spatial distributions of YOY sharks showed a high degree of overlap, particularly in the northern portion of the Mississippi Sound where few adult sharks were observed, suggesting that these life stages partition themselves to avoid predation.

Conclusion and implications

With a continued rise in US coastal shark populations, we hope this study can help further refine essential fish habitat for these coastal species and provide a framework analysis that can be used to understand habitat partitioning in other regions.

Keywords: coastal shark, delta-lognormal model, essential fish habitat, generalised additive mixed effects model, habitat model, life stages, nursey ground, predator avoidance, resource partitioning, species distribution model.

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