Distribution and site fidelity of four endemic catshark species in Walker Bay, South Africa ...

• Main Authors: Johnson, TL, de Bresser, JC, Cottrant, E, Drobniewska, NJ, Paulet, TG, Underhill, LG
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2024
• Subjects: Evolutionary Biology; FOS Biological sciences; Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified; Ecology; Inorganic Chemistry; FOS Chemical sciences; Walker Bay
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25217838.v1; https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Distribution_and_site_fidelity_of_four_endemic_catshark_species_in_Walker_Bay_South_Africa/25217838/1

Catsharks (family Scyliorhinidae) and the recently reclassified deepwater catsharks (family Pentanchidae) are two of the largest families of elasmobranchs and include species that function as important mesopredators in almost all marine ecosystems. This study focuses on four species endemic to the coast of southern Africa: the puffadder shyshark Haploblepharus edwardsii , dark shyshark H. pictus , leopard catshark Poroderma pantherinum and pyjama catshark P. africanum . Similar to most catsharks, these four species are underrepresented in chondrichthyan research. Our investigation aimed to gain insight into the distribution and site fidelity of the focal species through mark-recapture efforts in Walker Bay on the southwest coast. The use of 95% minimum convex polygons indicated large overlaps in distribution among the species as well as between sexes, except for H. edwardsii . Site fidelity was universally low (0.005) at three key sample sites, although travel distances between sites averaged 3–5.5 km across ...