Ontogenetic vertebral growth patterns in the basking shark Cetorhinus maximus

Marine Ecology Progress Series

Patrick Campbell¹  Stefano Vanni¹  George H. Burgess¹  Friederike Johansson¹  Simon J. B. Gulak¹  Frederik H. Mollen¹  Sabine P. Wintner¹  Leonard J. V. Compagno¹  Andrew Wedderburn-Maxwell¹  Brett Human¹  0¹  Lisa J. Natanson¹  Alessandro De Maddalena¹  Farid Hemida¹  Franco Cigala Fulgosi¹  Andrew Piercy¹  David A. Ebert¹ 

关键词: Basking shark;    Cetorhinus maximus;    Age;    Growth;    Vertebrae;   

DOI  :  10.3354/meps07399

学科分类：海洋学与技术

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: Age and growth of the basking shark Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus) was examined using vertebral samples from 13 females (261 to 856 cm total length [TL]), 16 males (311 to 840 cm TL) and 11 specimens of unknown sex (376 to 853 cm TL). Vertebral samples were obtained worldwide from museums and institutional and private collections. Examination of multiple vertebrae from along the vertebral column of 10 specimens indicated that vertebral morphology and band pair (alternating opaque and translucent bands) counts changed dramatically along an individual column. Smaller sharks had similar band pair counts along the length of the vertebral column while large sharks had a difference of up to 24 band pairs between the highest and lowest count along the column. Our evidence indicates that band pair deposition may be related to growth and not time in this species and thus the basking shark cannot be directly aged using vertebral band pair counts.

【 授权许可】

Unknown