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- Title
Individual differences in diel and vertical activity patterns in a large pelagic predator, the oceanic whitetip shark.
- Authors
Papastamatiou, Yannis P.; Leos-Barajas, Vianey; Howey, Lucy; Brooks, Edd; Chapman, Demian D.; Watanabe, Yuuki
- Abstract
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.
- Subjects
INDIVIDUAL differences; ANIMAL swimming; SEARCHING behavior; MARKOV processes; PREDATORY animals
- Publication
Marine Biology, 2022, Vol 169, Issue 11, p1
- ISSN
0025-3162
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00227-022-04119-7