Abstract
The stomach contents of 30 male and 43 female (age < 3 years; 74–236 cm total length) juvenile great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell, 1837)) obtained from commercial fisheries operating in Saudi Arabian waters of the Arabian Gulf were analyzed for the first time. After exclusion of parasites and abiotics, a total of 31 prey items, including the remains of cephalopods, fish, crustaceans, and bivalve mollusks, were identified in the stomachs of 59 great hammerheads. Based on the index of relative importance, teleosts were their main prey, and Platycephalus indicus (Linnaeus, 1758) was the most important prey at the species level. Significant age-related dietary differences were noted (F = 1.57, p = 0.026), indicating that the prey of the hammerheads aged 0–3 years shifted from Platycephalidae to Myliobatidae. Levin’s niche overlap index was low (0.05–0.21), indicating that <3-year-old juvenile great hammerheads are specialized predators. The estimated trophic level was 4.40–5.01 (mean ± SD, 4.66 ± 0.45), indicating that the great hammerhead is a tertiary consumer.
Subject
Ecology,Aquatic Science,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Reference45 articles.
1. Compagno, L.J.V. (1984). Sharks of the World: An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Shark Species Known to Date, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAO Species Catalogue.
2. Sharks caught in the protective gill nets off KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 8. The Great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell);Cliff;S. Afr. J. Mar. Sci.,1995
3. Ebert, D.A., Fowler, S., and Compagno, L. (2013). Sharks of the World—A Fully Illustrated Guide, Wild Nature Press.
4. Trophic interactions at the top of the coral reef food chain;Mourier;Coral Reefs,2013
5. Philopatry and regional connectivity of the great hammerhead shark, Sphyrna mokarran in the U.S. and the Bahamas;Guttridge;Front. Mar. Sci.,2017
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献