Migrations and habitat use of the smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena) in the Atlantic Ocean.

ABSTRACT: The smooth hammerhead shark, Sphyrna zygaena, is a cosmopolitan semipelagic shark captured as bycatch in pelagic oceanic fisheries, especially pelagic longlines targeting swordfish and/or tunas. From 2012 to 2016, eight smooth hammerheads were tagged with Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags in the inter-tropical region of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, with successful transmissions received from seven tags (total of 319 tracking days). Results confirmed the smooth hammerhead is a highly mobile species, as the longest migration ever documented for this species (> 6600 km) was recorded. An absence of a diel vertical movement behavior was noted, with the sharks spending most of their time at surface waters (0-50 m) above 23°C. The operating depth of the pelagic longline gear was measured with Minil

SUBMITTER: Santos CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5991395 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature