Female wound records suggest mating periods for the Caribbean reef shark at an insular marine protected area from the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Rangel, Bianca S., Afonso, André S., Garla, Ricardo
• Other Authors: Beacon Development, KAUST – King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Departamento de Fisiologia Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. Rua do Matão, travessa 14, 321, CEP 05508-090, Cidade Universitária São Paulo SP Brazil, Departamento de Pesca e Aquicultura Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco Recife Brazil, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ARNET – Aquatic Research Network, Department of Life Sciences University of Coimbra Coimbra Portugal
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Wiley 2022
• Subjects: Life history; Reproduction; Copulation; Elasmobranchs; Mating Season; Austral; Ricardo; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/681030; https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15212

Despite being one of the most abundant, economically-significant, reef-associated shark species, little is known about the reproductive aspects of the Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi). In the present study we report the first evidence of mating wounds and scars in female Caribbean reef sharks at the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, a remote Marine Protected Area from the South Atlantic Ocean. Data from five females suggest this species mates mainly during the austral summer, between February and March. Given that the archipelago has been previously described as a nursery ground for the Caribbean reef shark, these results add information about the reproductive cycle of this species in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. We are grateful to Fundo Nacional para Biodiversidade (FUNBIO), Instituto Humanize (#98/2019), and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo-FAPESP (#2017/25273-0) for their support. We also thank the professor Fabio Hazin for all his support in this project, and for being great inspiration for Brazilian shark research. We also grateful to the Ricardo Araujo from Núcleo de Gestão Integrada de Noronha- NGI Noronha/ICMBio (Instituto Chico Mendes para a Conservação da Biodiversidade) and his team for all their support. We also thank Leonardo Veras and the fishermen Carlinhos Gomes, Tio Nãna and Weliton da Silva for their invaluable field assistance.