Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks: Fishes Checklist

A total of 113 BRUV surveys were completed throughout 2015 and 2016. The BRUV surveys documented a CMaxN of 237 elasmobranchs from 14 species and one unidentified Carcharhinid. The overall CPUE from both years was 2.09 (Table 1), with at least one elasmobranch encounter occurring in 92.03% (n = 104) of surveys. Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, the most abundant species, with a CMaxN of 103, occurred in 54.87% of surveys, recording an overall CPUE of 0.91 (x = 0.91 +- 1.64 SD). Triaenodon obesus were also abundant, with a CMaxN of 98, and were present in 71.68% of surveys with an overall CPUE of 0.87 (x = 0.87 +- 0.84 SD). Other shark species observed during two years of sampling were, in order of decreasing CMaxN, tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier (CMaxN = 8), blacktip reef shark Carcharhinus melanopterus (8), scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini (7), tawny nurse shark Nebrius ferrugineus (2), thresher shark Alopias sp. (2), silky shark Carcharhinus falciformis (1), silvertip shark Carcharhinus albimarginatus (1), and whale shark Rhincodon typus (1). Batoid species observed were spotted eagle ray Aetobatus spp. (2), round ribbontail ray Taeinurops meyeni (1), bluespotted ribbontail ray Taeniura lymma (1), and a manta ray Mobula sp. (1). There was no significant difference between years in CPUE of C. amblyrhynchos in shallow habitats (PERMANOVA, p = 0.297, Pseudo-F = 1.139) and deep habitats (p = 0.48, Pseudo-F = 0.607). Similarly, no significant difference in the abundance of T. obesus; abundance was evident between years in shallow (p = 0.19, Pseudo-F = 2.122) and deep habitats (p = 0.171, Pesudo-F 2.28).

Citation: Murray R, Conales Jr. S, Araujo G, Labaja J, Snow S J, Pierce S J, Songco A, Ponzo A, Earl C (2023). Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks: Fishes Checklist. Version 2.0. OBIS Secretariat. Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.25607/w4dalx

Published: September 13, 2023 at 23:40

License: To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

URL: https://ipt.obis.org/secretariat/resource?r=tubbataha-murray-2019