First record of the megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios, (family Megachasmidae) in the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean

Background: A new record of Megachasma pelagios is here reported for the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean from Puerto Rico. Results: On December 10, 2016, a tourist reported an unusual stranded shark on Mojacasabe Beach, Cabo Rojo, on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. Visual examination of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Biodiversity Records
Main Authors: Rodriguez-Ferrer, Grisel, Wetherbee, Bradley M., Schärer, Michelle, Lilyestrom, Craig, Zegarra, Jan P., Shivji, Mahmood
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: DigitalCommons@URI 2017
Subjects:
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/bio_facpubs/609
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41200-017-0117-y
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/context/bio_facpubs/article/1581/viewcontent/Wetherbee_FirstRecord_2017.pdf
Description
Summary:Background: A new record of Megachasma pelagios is here reported for the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean from Puerto Rico. Results: On December 10, 2016, a tourist reported an unusual stranded shark on Mojacasabe Beach, Cabo Rojo, on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. Visual examination of the carcass and mitochondrial DNA analysis from a dorsal fin sample revealed it to be a 457 cm female megamouth shark. Conclusion: This record represents the first record of M. pelagios for the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean within the Caribbean Sea of southwest Puerto Rico and only the second record of M. pelagios from the North Atlantic.

Similar Items