Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia

Tiger Sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier , are large top-level predators usually solitary as adults. Observation of their scavenging activity on the carcass of a dead whale offered a rare opportunity for better understanding the pattern of intra-specific behaviour within the aggregations of these large preda...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Clua, Eric, Chauvet, Claude, Tyffen Read, Werry, Jonathan M., Shing Y. Lee
Format: Dataset
Language:unknown
Published: Taylor & Francis 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606.v1
https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Behavioural_patterns_of_a_Tiger_Shark_i_Galeocerdo_cuvier_i_feeding_aggregation_at_a_blue_whale_carcass_in_Prony_Bay_New_Caledonia/825606/1
id ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.825606.v1
record_format openpolar
spelling ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.825606.v1 2023-05-15T15:36:25+02:00 Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia Clua, Eric Chauvet, Claude Tyffen Read Werry, Jonathan M. Shing Y. Lee 2013 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606.v1 https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Behavioural_patterns_of_a_Tiger_Shark_i_Galeocerdo_cuvier_i_feeding_aggregation_at_a_blue_whale_carcass_in_Prony_Bay_New_Caledonia/825606/1 unknown Taylor & Francis https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2013.773127 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 CC-BY Marine Biology Physiology FOS Biological sciences dataset Dataset 2013 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606.v1 https://doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2013.773127 https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Tiger Sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier , are large top-level predators usually solitary as adults. Observation of their scavenging activity on the carcass of a dead whale offered a rare opportunity for better understanding the pattern of intra-specific behaviour within the aggregations of these large predators. In January 2002, the stranding, subsequent death and consumption of a 17.4 m total length (TL) blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus , was observed and filmed in Prony Bay, southern New Caledonia. After three weeks of confinement in the bay, the cetacean was killed by adult bullsharks Carcharhinus leucas . The first adult Tiger Shark was subsequently observed around the carcass after 36 h. The fat slicks from the carcass attracted further Tiger Sharks which arrived after an additional 24 h. The use of photo-identification on video footage collected during four observation sessions over an eight-day period identified 46 individual Tiger Sharks (primarily adult females between 3.3 and 4 m TL) participating in the feeding aggregation. Only four animals were identified in two seperate observation sessions (over two consecutive days), suggesting a short-term residency pattern of several hours (<36 h) around the carcass. As the arrival time of Tiger Sharks to the carcass differed, most arrivals of a new participant were followed by a frenzied period of intense intra-specific interaction. Different biting and agonistic behaviours were demonstrated by the Tiger Sharks on the carcass, including three new behaviours previously undescribed for this species. Size and level of aggressiveness appeared to be the determining factors of dominance amongst Tiger Sharks. These observations and analysis demonstrate that systematic study of feeding aggregations supported by photo-identification could contribute to knowledge of large shark ecology when coupled with capture-recapture, genetic fingerprinting and tagging techniques. Dataset Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology)
institution Open Polar
collection DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology)
op_collection_id ftdatacite
language unknown
topic Marine Biology
Physiology
FOS Biological sciences
spellingShingle Marine Biology
Physiology
FOS Biological sciences
Clua, Eric
Chauvet, Claude
Tyffen Read
Werry, Jonathan M.
Shing Y. Lee
Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia
topic_facet Marine Biology
Physiology
FOS Biological sciences
description Tiger Sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier , are large top-level predators usually solitary as adults. Observation of their scavenging activity on the carcass of a dead whale offered a rare opportunity for better understanding the pattern of intra-specific behaviour within the aggregations of these large predators. In January 2002, the stranding, subsequent death and consumption of a 17.4 m total length (TL) blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus , was observed and filmed in Prony Bay, southern New Caledonia. After three weeks of confinement in the bay, the cetacean was killed by adult bullsharks Carcharhinus leucas . The first adult Tiger Shark was subsequently observed around the carcass after 36 h. The fat slicks from the carcass attracted further Tiger Sharks which arrived after an additional 24 h. The use of photo-identification on video footage collected during four observation sessions over an eight-day period identified 46 individual Tiger Sharks (primarily adult females between 3.3 and 4 m TL) participating in the feeding aggregation. Only four animals were identified in two seperate observation sessions (over two consecutive days), suggesting a short-term residency pattern of several hours (<36 h) around the carcass. As the arrival time of Tiger Sharks to the carcass differed, most arrivals of a new participant were followed by a frenzied period of intense intra-specific interaction. Different biting and agonistic behaviours were demonstrated by the Tiger Sharks on the carcass, including three new behaviours previously undescribed for this species. Size and level of aggressiveness appeared to be the determining factors of dominance amongst Tiger Sharks. These observations and analysis demonstrate that systematic study of feeding aggregations supported by photo-identification could contribute to knowledge of large shark ecology when coupled with capture-recapture, genetic fingerprinting and tagging techniques.
format Dataset
author Clua, Eric
Chauvet, Claude
Tyffen Read
Werry, Jonathan M.
Shing Y. Lee
author_facet Clua, Eric
Chauvet, Claude
Tyffen Read
Werry, Jonathan M.
Shing Y. Lee
author_sort Clua, Eric
title Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia
title_short Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia
title_full Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia
title_fullStr Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia
title_full_unstemmed Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia
title_sort behavioural patterns of a tiger shark ( galeocerdo cuvier ) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in prony bay, new caledonia
publisher Taylor & Francis
publishDate 2013
url https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606.v1
https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Behavioural_patterns_of_a_Tiger_Shark_i_Galeocerdo_cuvier_i_feeding_aggregation_at_a_blue_whale_carcass_in_Prony_Bay_New_Caledonia/825606/1
genre Balaenoptera musculus
Blue whale
genre_facet Balaenoptera musculus
Blue whale
op_relation https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2013.773127
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606
op_rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
cc-by-4.0
op_rightsnorm CC-BY
op_doi https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606.v1
https://doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2013.773127
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.825606
_version_ 1766366771108904960