Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus)
The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus, Squaliformes: Somniosidae) is a long-lived Arctic top predator, which in combination with the high historical and modern fishing pressures, has made it subject to increased scientific focus in recent years. Key aspects of reproduction are not well known...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7540863 2023-05-15T15:05:36+02:00 Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) Nielsen, Julius Hedeholm, Rasmus B. Lynghammar, Arve McClusky, Leon M. Berland, Bjørn Steffensen, John F. Christiansen, Jørgen S. 2020-10-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7540863/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33027263 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238986 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7540863/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33027263 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238986 © 2020 Nielsen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY PLoS One Research Article Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238986 2020-10-25T00:22:09Z The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus, Squaliformes: Somniosidae) is a long-lived Arctic top predator, which in combination with the high historical and modern fishing pressures, has made it subject to increased scientific focus in recent years. Key aspects of reproduction are not well known as exemplified by sparse and contradictory information e.g. on birth size and number of pups per pregnancy. This study represents the first comprehensive work on Greenland shark reproductive biology based on data from 312 specimens collected over the past 60 years. We provide guidelines quantifying reproductive parameters to assess specific maturation stages, as well as calculate body length-at-maturity (TL(50)) which was 2.84±0.06 m for males and 4.19±0.04 m for females. From the available information on the ovarian fecundity of Greenland sharks as well as a meta-analysis of Squaliform reproductive parameters, we estimate up to 200–324 pups per pregnancy (depending on maternal size) with a body length-at-birth of 35–45 cm. These estimates remain to be verified by future observations from gravid Greenland sharks. Text Arctic Greenland Somniosus microcephalus PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Greenland PLOS ONE 15 10 e0238986 |
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Research Article Nielsen, Julius Hedeholm, Rasmus B. Lynghammar, Arve McClusky, Leon M. Berland, Bjørn Steffensen, John F. Christiansen, Jørgen S. Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) |
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Research Article |
description |
The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus, Squaliformes: Somniosidae) is a long-lived Arctic top predator, which in combination with the high historical and modern fishing pressures, has made it subject to increased scientific focus in recent years. Key aspects of reproduction are not well known as exemplified by sparse and contradictory information e.g. on birth size and number of pups per pregnancy. This study represents the first comprehensive work on Greenland shark reproductive biology based on data from 312 specimens collected over the past 60 years. We provide guidelines quantifying reproductive parameters to assess specific maturation stages, as well as calculate body length-at-maturity (TL(50)) which was 2.84±0.06 m for males and 4.19±0.04 m for females. From the available information on the ovarian fecundity of Greenland sharks as well as a meta-analysis of Squaliform reproductive parameters, we estimate up to 200–324 pups per pregnancy (depending on maternal size) with a body length-at-birth of 35–45 cm. These estimates remain to be verified by future observations from gravid Greenland sharks. |
format |
Text |
author |
Nielsen, Julius Hedeholm, Rasmus B. Lynghammar, Arve McClusky, Leon M. Berland, Bjørn Steffensen, John F. Christiansen, Jørgen S. |
author_facet |
Nielsen, Julius Hedeholm, Rasmus B. Lynghammar, Arve McClusky, Leon M. Berland, Bjørn Steffensen, John F. Christiansen, Jørgen S. |
author_sort |
Nielsen, Julius |
title |
Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) |
title_short |
Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) |
title_full |
Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) |
title_fullStr |
Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing the reproductive biology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) |
title_sort |
assessing the reproductive biology of the greenland shark (somniosus microcephalus) |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7540863/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33027263 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238986 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Somniosus microcephalus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Somniosus microcephalus |
op_source |
PLoS One |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7540863/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33027263 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238986 |
op_rights |
© 2020 Nielsen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
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CC-BY |
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238986 |
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PLOS ONE |
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15 |
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10 |
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e0238986 |
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