Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters
The velvet belly lanternshark ( Etmopterus spinax ) is a small, bioluminescent shark that is caught as bycatch in many deep-sea fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean. Using data from 10,597 seasonal research survey tows spanning 11 years, the distribution, relative abundance, life history, and environment...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 |
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crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 2024-05-19T07:42:39+00:00 Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters Mattína, Helga Campana, Steven E. Jakobsdóttir, Klara Coelho, Rui Rannís 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 19, issue 3, page e0299544 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2024 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 2024-05-01T07:00:28Z The velvet belly lanternshark ( Etmopterus spinax ) is a small, bioluminescent shark that is caught as bycatch in many deep-sea fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean. Using data from 10,597 seasonal research survey tows spanning 11 years, the distribution, relative abundance, life history, and environmental preferences of E . spinax in Icelandic waters was examined for the first time. E . spinax (n = 8774) were only captured in relatively deep offshore waters to the south and west of Iceland. Females grew to larger sizes than males and reached 50% sexual maturity at a total length of 50 cm. Females at a late stage of maturity and very small juveniles (<20 cm) were restricted to the central south Icelandic shelf, suggesting that this might be critical habitat for the reproduction of the species. Most of the sharks were captured at depths of 400–500 m, a relatively narrow depth range, and classified as a stenothermic warm-water species with habitat temperature restricted to about 6.3–8.0°C. Teleosts, crustaceans and cephalopods made up most of the diet. There was no indication of a decline in abundance over the time span of the survey. However, climate-induced warming of the deep ocean may shift the distribution of the species to more northerly waters within Iceland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland PLOS PLOS ONE 19 3 e0299544 |
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language |
English |
description |
The velvet belly lanternshark ( Etmopterus spinax ) is a small, bioluminescent shark that is caught as bycatch in many deep-sea fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean. Using data from 10,597 seasonal research survey tows spanning 11 years, the distribution, relative abundance, life history, and environmental preferences of E . spinax in Icelandic waters was examined for the first time. E . spinax (n = 8774) were only captured in relatively deep offshore waters to the south and west of Iceland. Females grew to larger sizes than males and reached 50% sexual maturity at a total length of 50 cm. Females at a late stage of maturity and very small juveniles (<20 cm) were restricted to the central south Icelandic shelf, suggesting that this might be critical habitat for the reproduction of the species. Most of the sharks were captured at depths of 400–500 m, a relatively narrow depth range, and classified as a stenothermic warm-water species with habitat temperature restricted to about 6.3–8.0°C. Teleosts, crustaceans and cephalopods made up most of the diet. There was no indication of a decline in abundance over the time span of the survey. However, climate-induced warming of the deep ocean may shift the distribution of the species to more northerly waters within Iceland. |
author2 |
Coelho, Rui Rannís |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mattína, Helga Campana, Steven E. Jakobsdóttir, Klara |
spellingShingle |
Mattína, Helga Campana, Steven E. Jakobsdóttir, Klara Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters |
author_facet |
Mattína, Helga Campana, Steven E. Jakobsdóttir, Klara |
author_sort |
Mattína, Helga |
title |
Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters |
title_short |
Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters |
title_full |
Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters |
title_fullStr |
Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) in Icelandic waters |
title_sort |
environmental preferences and critical habitat for the velvet belly lanternshark (etmopterus spinax) in icelandic waters |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 19, issue 3, page e0299544 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299544 |
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PLOS ONE |
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19 |
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3 |
container_start_page |
e0299544 |
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