Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean
Novel, non-lethal approaches are needed to improve our current understanding of the reproductive biology and ecology of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias. Previous studies have demonstrated that concentrations of reproductive hormones in muscle tissue can be used as reliable indicators of repro...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1656c60608b046a99d67727976b1222a 2023-05-15T17:45:34+02:00 Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean HJ Verkamp G Skomal M Winton JA Sulikowski 2021-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01109 https://doaj.org/article/1656c60608b046a99d67727976b1222a EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v44/p231-236/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01109 https://doaj.org/article/1656c60608b046a99d67727976b1222a Endangered Species Research, Vol 44, Pp 231-236 (2021) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01109 2022-12-31T05:28:07Z Novel, non-lethal approaches are needed to improve our current understanding of the reproductive biology and ecology of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias. Previous studies have demonstrated that concentrations of reproductive hormones in muscle tissue can be used as reliable indicators of reproductive status for many vertebrate species, including elasmobranchs. Here, we applied this method to assess the concentrations of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) in muscle biopsies from free-swimming white sharks at a known aggregation site off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA), in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, to determine whether this technique could be used to evaluate the reproductive status of this species. A total of 14 muscle samples from 13 white sharks (7 males [1 sampled twice], 6 females), ranging in size from 3.3 to 4.2 m total length, were analyzed for this study. T and E2 were present in sufficient amounts to be quantified in 7 of the 8 (87.5%) male and 1 of the 6 (16.7%) female samples, respectively. As expected, most samples collected from immature individuals were below minimum detection thresholds. Hormone concentrations in males presumed to be adults were also generally low, suggesting these individuals were not actively producing sperm at the time of sample collection. Overall, the results herein are similar to those found in other species and indicate that concentrations of hormones in the skeletal muscle of subadult and adult white sharks can provide information on the reproductive status of individuals. This technique could have wide-ranging applications for the study of white shark reproduction in the future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Endangered Species Research 44 231 236 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
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Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 HJ Verkamp G Skomal M Winton JA Sulikowski Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
Novel, non-lethal approaches are needed to improve our current understanding of the reproductive biology and ecology of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias. Previous studies have demonstrated that concentrations of reproductive hormones in muscle tissue can be used as reliable indicators of reproductive status for many vertebrate species, including elasmobranchs. Here, we applied this method to assess the concentrations of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) in muscle biopsies from free-swimming white sharks at a known aggregation site off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA), in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, to determine whether this technique could be used to evaluate the reproductive status of this species. A total of 14 muscle samples from 13 white sharks (7 males [1 sampled twice], 6 females), ranging in size from 3.3 to 4.2 m total length, were analyzed for this study. T and E2 were present in sufficient amounts to be quantified in 7 of the 8 (87.5%) male and 1 of the 6 (16.7%) female samples, respectively. As expected, most samples collected from immature individuals were below minimum detection thresholds. Hormone concentrations in males presumed to be adults were also generally low, suggesting these individuals were not actively producing sperm at the time of sample collection. Overall, the results herein are similar to those found in other species and indicate that concentrations of hormones in the skeletal muscle of subadult and adult white sharks can provide information on the reproductive status of individuals. This technique could have wide-ranging applications for the study of white shark reproduction in the future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
HJ Verkamp G Skomal M Winton JA Sulikowski |
author_facet |
HJ Verkamp G Skomal M Winton JA Sulikowski |
author_sort |
HJ Verkamp |
title |
Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_short |
Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_full |
Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_sort |
using reproductive hormone concentrations from the muscle of white sharks carcharodon carcharias to evaluate reproductive status in the northwest atlantic ocean |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01109 https://doaj.org/article/1656c60608b046a99d67727976b1222a |
genre |
Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northwest Atlantic |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 44, Pp 231-236 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v44/p231-236/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01109 https://doaj.org/article/1656c60608b046a99d67727976b1222a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01109 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
44 |
container_start_page |
231 |
op_container_end_page |
236 |
_version_ |
1766148684767035392 |