A grey nurse shark from the Northern Territory of Australia shares a mitochondrial haplotype only recorded from the western Australian population
Sara Krause
A B and Adam Stow A *
A
B
Abstract
The critically endangered grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) is a widely distributed coastal to near coastal species. Overexploitation has resulted in severe global population declines, including in Australian waters, where two genetically distinct populations are known to exist in temperate to subtropical waters off the eastern and western coasts of the continent. However, occasional sightings of C. taurus have been reported in the Timor Sea and Northern Territory waters.
In this small-scale study, we aimed to evaluate whether a single C. taurus individual captured in waters off the Northern Territory of Australia belongs to the Critically Endangered eastern Australian population.
On the basis of previously identified mitochondrial haplotypes for this species, we aligned the mtDNA control regions of the Northern Territory individual with sequence data from eastern and western Australian samples.
The sequence alignment showed a haplotype unique to western Australia (Haplotype E).
The individual caught in Northern Territory waters is genetically compatible with the western Australian population.
These data suggest that C. taurus occurring off the Northern Territory do not represent an extension of the Critically Endangered eastern coast population and also highlighted the need for future research on the understudied grey nurse shark in tropical waters off northern Australia.
Keywords: Australia, Critically Endangered species, grey nurse shark, haplotype, mitochondrial DNA, Northern Territory, shark conservation, Timor Sea, western Australia.
References
Ahonen H, Harcourt RG, Stow AJ (2009) Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA reveals isolation of imperilled grey nurse shark populations (Carcharias taurus). Molecular Ecology 18, 4409-4421.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Bansemer CS, Bennett MB (2011) Sex- and maturity-based differences in movement and migration patterns of grey nurse shark, Carcharias taurus, along the eastern coast of Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 62, 596-606.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Compagno LJV (1984) ‘FAO species catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 1. Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes’, 1st edn. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Rome, Italy) Available at https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/1b650fd0-3675-43cc-adcf-876cdc5a001f/content
Department of the Environment (2014) Recovery Plan for the Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus). (Commonwealth of Australia) Available at www.environment.gov.au/resource/recovery-plan-grey-nurse-shark-carcharias-taurus
Goldman KJ, Branstetter S, Musick JA (2006) A re-examination of the age and growth of sand tiger sharks, Carcharias taurus, in the western North Atlantic: the importance of ageing protocols and use of multiple back-calculation techniques. In ‘Special issue: age and growth of chondrichthyan fishes: new methods, techniques and analysis’. (Eds JK Carlson, KJ Goldman) pp. 241–252. (Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands)
Hoschke AM, Whisson GJ, Haulsee D (2023) Population distribution, aggregation sites and seasonal occurrence of Australia’s western population of the grey nurse shark Carcharias taurus. Endangered Species Research 50, 107-123.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Jakobs S, Braccini M (2019) Acoustic and conventional tagging support the growth patterns of grey nurse sharks and reveal their large-scale displacements in the west coast of Australia. Marine Biology 166, 150.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Momigliano P, Jaiteh VF (2015) First records of the grey nurse shark Carcharias taurus (Lamniformes: Odontaspididae) from oceanic coral reefs in the Timor Sea. Marine Biodiversity Records 8, e56.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
National Health and Medical Research Council (2013) ‘Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes’, 8th edn. (NHMRC) Available at https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/attachments/Australian-code-for-the-care-and-use-of-animals.pdf
Otway NM, Ellis MT (2011) Pop-up archival satellite tagging of Carcharias taurus: movements and depth/temperature-related use of south-eastern Australian waters. Marine and Freshwater Research 62, 607-620.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Otway NM, Burke AL, Morrison NS, Parker PC (2003) Monitoring and identification of NSW Critical Habitat Sites for conservation of Grey Nurse Sharks. Final report to Environment Australia, project number 22499. NSW Fisheries final report series number 47. (NSW Fisheries) Available at https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/545631/FFRS-47_Otway-et-al-2003.pdf
Otway NM, Bradshaw CJA, Harcourt RG (2004) Estimating the rate of quasi-extinction of the Australian grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) population using deterministic age- and stage-classified models. Biological Conservation 119, 341-350.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Pollard DA, Lincoln Smith MP, Smith AK (1996) The biology and conservation status of the grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus Rafinesque 1810) in New South Wales, Australia. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 6, 1-20.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Pollard D, Gordon I, Williams S, Flaherty A, McAuley R (2003a) Carcharias taurus East coast of Australia subpopulation. In ‘The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003’. e.T44070A10854830. (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Available at https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/44070/10854830
Pollard D, Gordon I, Williams S, Flaherty A, McAuley R (2003b) Carcharias taurus Western Australia subpopulation. In ‘The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003’. e.T44071A10854958. (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Available at https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/44071/10854958
Reid DD, Robbins WD, Peddemors VM (2011) Decadal trends in shark catches and effort from the New South Wales, Australia, Shark Meshing Program 1950–2010. Marine and Freshwater Research 62, 676-693.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Rigby CL, Carlson J, Derrick D, Dicken M, Pacoureau N, Simpfendorfer C (2021) Sand tiger shark Carcharias taurus. In ‘The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021’. e.T3854A2876505. (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Available at https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/3854/2876505
Stow A, Zenger K, Briscoe D, Gillings M, Peddemors V, Otway N, Harcourt R (2006) Isolation and genetic diversity of endangered grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) populations. Biology Letters 2, 308-311.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Stucky BJ (2012) SeqTrace: a graphical tool for rapidly processing DNA sequencing chromatograms. Journal of Biomolecular Techniques 23, 90-93.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Tamura K, Stecher G, Kumar S (2021) MEGA11: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 11. Molecular Biology and Evolution 38, 3022-3027.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |
Wirasantosa S, Wagey T, Nurhakim S, Nugroho D (Eds) (2011) ATSEA cruise report, second edition. (ATSEA Program) Available at https://atsea-program.com/publication/atsea-cruise-report/
