Mesoscale eddies influence the movements of mature female white sharks in the Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea.

ABSTRACT: Satellite-tracking of mature white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) has revealed open-ocean movements spanning months and covering tens of thousands of kilometers. But how are the energetic demands of these active apex predators met as they leave coastal areas with relatively high prey abundance to swim across the open ocean through waters often characterized as biological deserts? Here we investigate mesoscale oceanographic variability encountered by two white sharks as they moved through the Gulf Stream region and Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. In the vicinity of the Gulf Stream, the two mature female white sharks exhibited extensive use of the interiors of clockwise-rotating anticyclonic eddies, characterized by positive (warm) temperature anomalies. One tagged white shark was

SUBMITTER: Gaube P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5943458 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature