Evidence of a predation event on a tagged Mediterranean spearfish (

The Strait of Messina is located at the centre of the Mediterranean Sea and is considered a biodiversity hotspot and an obligatory seasonal passage for different pelagic species such as sharks, marine mammals, and billfishes. For the first time, in the Strait of Messina, our research group tagged a Mediterranean spearfish (Tetrapturus belone) using a pop-up satellite archival tag (PSAT). The observation of abiotic parameters (depth, light, and temperature) recorded by the PSAT confirmed that the tagged specimen was predated after about nine hours. The tag was then regurgitated 14 days after the tag deployment date. The analysis of collected data seems to indicate that the predator may be an ectothermic shark, most likely the bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus).

Auteurs du document :

Danilo Malara, Pietro Battaglia, Pierpaolo Consoli, Erika Arcadi, Simonepietro Canese, Silvestro Greco, Franco Andaloro, Teresa Romeo

Obtenir le document :

EDP Sciences

Mots clés :

Billfish, behaviour, biologging, tracking, ectothermic shark attack, pop-up satellite archival tag, Mediterranean Sea

Thème (issu du Text Mining) :

MILIEU NATUREL

Date :

2020-12-15

Format :

text/xml