Group courtship, mating behaviour and siphon sac function in the whitetip reef shark, Triaenodon obesus
Section snippets
Methods
Digital video taken by S. Waterman at Cocos Island, Costa Rica in February 2001 recorded three mating events between whitetip reef sharks. There appeared to be hundreds of whitetip reef sharks present during 4 days of diving in the area, and the average water temperature was 24°C. Water depths at the site of mating activity varied from 12 to 18 m and reproductively active whitetips have been seen in this place and season for many years. From the video, it appeared that there were more males
Results
We determined actively courting individuals to be different in each of the three mating events based on their spot patterns and fin markings. Most surrounding males also appeared to be different for each event, although one male was observed circling during both events 1 and 2. Of the three mating events analysed, two (events 1 and 3) were between a single male and female per event. The other (event 2) initially involved four males and one female, with two of the males achieving pectoral fin
Discussion
Behaviours observed in this study closely paralleled those catalogued by Pratt & Carrier (2001) from observations of mating in nurse sharks, Ginglymostoma cirratum, and other elasmobranchs. These behaviours include: ‘arch’, ‘avoid’, ‘group behaviour’, ‘pectoral grasp’, ‘positioning and alignment’, ‘clasper flexion’, ‘insertion and copulation’ and ‘separating’. This is the first time several of these behaviours have been observed in whitetip reef sharks. Furthermore, the analysis of the video
Acknowledgments
We thank S. Waterman for allowing us to use his excellent underwater video footage for our analyses. We also thank J. Castro, E. Conklin, D. Strang and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on this manuscript.
References (32)
Reproduction in cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes)
- et al.
The clasper–siphon sac mechanism in Squalus acanthias and Mustelus canis
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology
(1972) - et al.
Group reproductive behaviour in free-living nurse sharks, Ginglymostoma cirratum
Copeia
(1994) Biology of the blacktip shark, Carcharhinus limbatus, off the southeastern United States
Bulletin of Marine Science
(1996)- et al.
The reproductive biology of the chain dogfish, Scyliorhinus rotifer
Copeia
(1988) - et al.
Mating behavior of southern stingrays, Dasyatis americana (Dasyatidae)
Environmental Biology of Fishes
(2003) Observations on the evolution of genitalia and copulatory behaviour in primates
Journal of Zoology
(1987)Sexual Selection and Animal Genitalia
(1985)Animal genitalia and female choice
American Scientist
(1990)- et al.
Aggregation behavior of the grey reef shark, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, at Johnston Atoll, central Pacific Ocean
Environmental Biology of Fishes
(1998)
Multiple paternity of a lemon shark litter (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhinidae)
Copeia
Reproductive biology of lamnoid sharks
Environmental Biology of Fishes
Reproduction and embryonic development of the sand tiger shark, Odontaspis taurus (Rafinesque)
U.S. Fisheries Bulletin
Pre-copulatory behaviour of captive sand tiger sharks, Carcharias taurus
Environmental Biology of Fishes
Testis weight, body weight, and breeding system in primates
Nature
Putative mating behaviour in basking sharks off the Nova Scotia Coast
Copeia
Cited by (69)
The biology and ecology of the basking shark: A review
2023, Advances in Marine BiologySharks
2019, Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, Second Edition: Volume 1-5Sharks
2019, Encyclopedia of Animal BehaviorTrophic habits of an abundant shark in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea using an isotopic non-lethal approach
2018, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf ScienceCitation Excerpt :Juveniles probably have a greater range of movement or they tend to be more generalist, feeding on available resources. On the contrary, adult individuals could be staying in the same areas because they need to remain with other adults to reproduce (Sims et al., 2001; Whitney et al., 2004). Furthermore, larger individuals have a greater ability to select high-energy preys and with higher δ15N values, which could explain this ontogenetic change (Cortes et al., 1996; Webber and Cech, 1998).
Are close-following and breaching behaviours by basking sharks at aggregation sites related to courtship?
2019, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
- 1
H. L. Pratt is at the Mote Marine Laboratory, 24244 Overseas Highway, Summerland Key, FL 33042, U.S.A.
- 2
J. C. Carrier is at the Department of Biology, Albion College, Albion, MI 49224, U.S.A.