Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Migration and habitat of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in the eastern Pacific Ocean

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Satellite telemetry studies of 20 adult and sub-adult white sharks (360–530 cm estimated total length (TL)) in the eastern North Pacific during 1999–2005 revealed long distance seasonal migrations from the coast of California to an offshore focal area 2,500 km west of the Baja Peninsula, as well as the Hawaii Islands. Three tags were recovered allowing detailed behavioral analyses, including one shark’s migration cycle from the coast to the offshore focal area and back. While near pinniped rookeries in autumn and winter, sharks avoided the surface and used water to 50 m depth, consistent with a silhouette-based hunting strategy. Offshore migrations were initiated during November–March and followed periods of decreasing pinniped abundance. Migrations were highly directed, taking 23 ± 5 days to reach the offshore focal area along similar paths among sharks and years, defining a migration corridor. Sharks exhibited a broad depth distribution (0–644 m) in the offshore focal area, and remained there for up to 167 days during spring and summer, though primary productivity and fishery data suggest that forage resources are scarcer there than in other regions of the eastern North Pacific. Archival data from one shark revealed intensive oscillatory movements while in the offshore focal area, a behavior that may be related to foraging or mating. Sharks traveling to Hawaii remained near the islands up to 122 days, potentially feeding on pelagic fishes and marine mammals that concentrate around the islands.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Able KP, Able MA (1990) Calibration of the magnetic compass of a migratory bird by celestial rotation. Nature 347:378–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aebischer NJ, Robertson PA, Kenward RE (1993) Compositional analysis of habitat use from animal radio-tracking data. Ecology 74:1313–1325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ainley DG, Henderson RP, Huber HR, Boekelheide RJ, Allen SG, McElroy TL (1985) Dynamics of white shark/pinniped interactions in the Gulf of the Farallones. Mem South Calif Acad Sci 9:109–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson SD, Goldman KJ (1996) Photographic evidence of white shark movements in California waters. Calif Fish Game 82:182–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson S, Pyle P (2003) A temporal, sex-specific occurrence pattern among white sharks at the South Farallon Islands, California. Calif Fish Game 89:96–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Bankey V, Cuevas A, Daniels D, Finn CA, Hernandez I, Hill P, Kucks R, Miles W, Pilkington M, Roberts C, Roest W, Rystrom V, Shearer S, Snyder S, Sweeney R, Velez J (2002) Magnetic Anomaly Map of North America. U.S. Geological Survey

  • Batschelet E (1981) Circular statistics in biology. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernal D, Donley JM, Shadwick RE, Syme DA (2005) Mammal-like muscles power swimming in a cold-water shark. Nature 437:1349–1352

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Block BA, Teo SLH, Walli A, Boustany A, Stokesbury MJW, Farwell CJ, Weng KC, Dewar H, Williams TD (2005) Electronic tagging and population structure of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Nature 434:1121–1127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bonfil R, Meyer M, Scholl MC, Johnson R, O’Brien S, Oosthuizen H, Swanson S, Kotze D, Paterson M (2005) Transoceanic migration, spatial dynamics, and population linkages of white sharks. Science 310:100–103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boustany AM, Davis SF, Pyle P, Anderson SD, Le Boeuf BJ, Block BA (2002) Satellite tagging: Expanded niche for white sharks. Nature 415:35–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brainerd K, Gregg M (1995) Surface mixed and mixing layer depths. Deep Sea Res I 42:1521–1543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brill RW, Bushnell PG (2001) The cardiovascular system of tunas. In: Block BA, Stevens ED (eds) Tunas: physiology, ecology and evolution. Academic, San Diego, pp 79–120

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brodie P, Beck B (1983) Predation by sharks of the gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) in eastern Canada. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 40:267–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce BD (1992) Preliminary observations on the biology of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias in south Australian waters. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 43:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce BD, Stevens JD, Malcolm H (2006) Movements and swimming behaviour of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in Australian waters. Mar Biol DOI 10.1007/s00227-006-0325-1:1–12

  • Carey F, Robison B (1981) Daily patterns in the activities of swordfish, Xiphias gladius, observed by acoustic telemetry. Fish Bull 79:277–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey FG, Kanwisher JW, Brazier O, Gabrielson G, Casey JG, Pratt HLJ (1982) Temperature and activities of a white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. Copeia 1982:254–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrier JC, Harold L, Pratt J, Castro JI (2004) Reproductive biology of elasmobranchs. In: Carrier JC, Musick JA, Heithaus MR (eds) Biology of sharks and their relatives. CRC: Boca Raton, pp 269–286

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Compagno LJV (1984) Vol. 4 Sharks of the World, Part 1 Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes. United Nations Development Programme, Rome

  • DeLong R, Stewart B, Hill R (1992) Documenting migrations of northern elephant seals using day length. Mar Mamm Sci 8:155–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domeier M, Nasby-Lucas N (2007) Annual re-sightings of photographically identified white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) at an eastern Pacific aggregation site (Guadalupe Island, Mexico). Mar Biol DOI 10.1007/s00227-006-0380-7

  • Ferreira CA, Ferreira TP (1996) Population dynamics of white sharks in South Africa. In: Klimley AP, Ainley DG (eds) Great white sharks: the biology of Carcharodon carcharias. Academic, San Diego pp 381–391

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Francis MP (1996) Observations on a pregnant white shark with a review of reproductive biology. In: Klimley AP, Ainley DG (eds) Great white sharks: the biology of Carcharodon carcharias. Academic, San Diego, pp 157–172

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman KJ (1997) Regulation of body temperature in the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. J Comp Physiol [B] 167:423–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman K, Anderson S (1999) Space utilization and swimming depth of white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, at the South Farallon Islands, central California. Envi Biol Fish 56:351–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham JB, Dewar H, Lai NC, Lowell WR, Arce SM (1990) Aspects of shark swimming performance determined using a large water tunnel. J Exp Biol 151:175–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill RD, Braun MJ (2001) Geolocation by light-level. In: Sibert J, Nielson J (eds) Electronic tagging and tracking in marine fisheries research: methods and technologies. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland K, Brill R, Chang R (1990) Horizontal and vertical movements of yellowfin and bigeye tuna associated with fish aggregating devices. Fish Bull 88:493–507

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland K, Brill R, Chang R, Sibert J, Fournier D (1992) Physiological and behavioural thermoregulation in bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus). Nature 358:410–412

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hooge PN, Eichenlaub B (1997) Animal movement extension to ArcView. Alaska Science Center––Biological Science Office. U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter MD, Price PW (1992) Playing chutes and ladders: heterogeneity and the relative roles of bottom–up and top–down forces in natural communities. Ecology 73:724–732

    Google Scholar 

  • Josse E, Bach P, Dagorn L (1998) Simultaneous observations of tuna movements and their prey by sonic tracking and acoustic surveys. Hydrobiologia 371–372:61–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klimley AP (1985) The areal distribution and autecology of the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, off the West Coast of North America. Mem South Calif Acad Sci 9:15–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Klimley AP, Le Boeuf BJ, Cantara KM, Richert JE, Davis SF, Van Sommeran S (2001) Radio-acoustic positioning as a tool for studying site-specific behavior of the white shark and other large marine species. Mar Biol 138:429–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klimley A, Beavers S, Curtis T, Jorgensen S (2002) Movements and swimming behavior of three species of sharks in La Jolla Canyon, California. Environ Biol Fishes 63:117–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klimley AP, Jorgensen SJ, Muhlia-Melo A, Beavers SC (2003) The occurrence of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at Espiritu Santo Seamount in the Gulf of California. Fish Bull 101:684–692

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohler NE, Turner PA (2001) Shark tagging: a review of conventional methods and studies. Environ Biol Fish 60:191–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Boeuf BJ, Laws R (1994) Elephant seals: an introduction to the genus. In: Le Boeuf BJ, Laws R (eds) Elephant seals: population ecology, behavior, and physiology. University of California, Berkeley, pp 1–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Malcolm H, Bruce BD, Stevens JD (2001) A review of the biology and status of white sharks in Australian waters. CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin R, Hammerschlag N, Collier R, Fallows C (2005) Predatory behaviour of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) at Seal Island, South Africa. J Mar Biol Ass UK 85:1121–1135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mate BR, Gisiner R, Mobley J (1998) Local and migratory movements of Hawaiian humpback whales tracked by satellite telemetry. Can J Zool 76:863–868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mollet HF, Cliff G, Pratt HL Jr, Stevens JD (2000) Reproductive biology of the female shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus Rafinesque, 1810, with comments on the embryonic development of lamnoids. Fish Bull 98:299–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Okamoto H, Bayliff WH (2003) A review of the Japanese longline fishery for tunas and billfishes in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 1993–1997. Inter-Am Trop Tuna Comm Bull 22:221–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardini AT, Jones CS, Noble LR, Kreiser B, Malcolm H, Bruce BD, Stevens JD, Cliff G, Scholl MC, Francis M, Duffy CAJ, Martin AP (2001) Sex-biased dispersal of great white sharks. Nature: 139–140

  • Peddie N (1993) The magnetic field of the earth, 1990: inclination chart. US Geological Survey

  • Polovina JJ, Howell E, Kobayashi DR, Seki MP (2001) The transition zone chlorophyll front, a dynamic global feature defining migration and forage habitat for marine resources. Prog Oceanogr 49:469–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt HL Jr (1996) Reproduction in the male white shark. In: Klimley AP, Ainley DG (eds) Great white sharks: the biology of Carcharodon carcharias. Academic, San Diego, pp 131–138

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pyle P, Anderson SD, Klimley AP, Henderson RP (1996) Environmental factors affecting the occurrence and behavior of white sharks at the Farallon Islands, California. In: Klimley AP, Ainley DG (eds) Great white sharks: The biology of Carcharodon carcharias. Academic, San Diego pp 281–291

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pyle P, Schramm MJ, Keiper C, Anderson SD (1999) Predation on a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) by a killer whale (Orcinus orca) and a possible case of competitive displacement. Mar Mamm Sci: 563–568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roden G (1991) Subarctic-subtropical transition zone of the North Pacific: large scale aspects and mesoscale structure. In: Wetherall J (ed) Biology, Oceanography, and Fisheries of the North Pacific Transition Zone and Subarctic Frontal Zone. NOAA Technical Report NMFS 105, pp 1–38

  • Sandwell D, Smith W (1997) Marine gravity anomaly from Geosat and ERS-1 satellite altimetry. J Geophys Res B 102:10039–10054

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seki MP, Polovina JJ, Kobayashi DR, Bidigare RR, Mitchum GT (2002) An oceanographic characterization of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) longline fishing grounds in the springtime subtropical North Pacific. Fish Oceanog 11:251–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silverman B (1986) Density estimation for statistics and data analysis. Chapman & Hall, London, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smith W, Sandwell D (1997) Global Sea Floor Topography from Satellite Altimetry and Ship Depth Soundings. Science 277:1956–1962

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens J, Bonfil R, Dulvy N, Walker P (2000) The effects of fishing on sharks, rays, and chimaeras (chondrichthyans), and the implications for marine ecosystems. ICES J Mar Sci 57:476–494

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strong WRJ, Murphy RC, Bruce BD, Nelson DR (1992) Movements and associated observations of bait-attracted white sharks Carcharodon carcharias: a preliminary report. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 43:13–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teo SLH, Boustany A, Blackwell S, Walli A, Weng KC, Block BA (2004) Validation of geolocation estimates based on light level and sea surface temperature from electronic tags. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 283:81–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teo SLH, Boustany A, Dewar H, Stokesbury MJW, Weng KC, Beemer S, Seitz AC, Farwell CJ, Prince ED, Block BA (2006) Annual migrations, diving behavior, and thermal biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, on their Gulf of Mexico breeding grounds. Mar Biol DOI 10.1007/s00227-006–0447-5

  • Tremblay Y, Shaffer SA, Fowler SL, Kuhn CE, McDonald BI, Weise MJ, Bost CA, Weimerskirch H, Crocker DE, Goebel ME, Costa DR (2006) Interpolation of animal tracking data in a fluid environment. J Exp Biol 209:128–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weimerskirch H, Bonadonna F, Bailleul F, Mabille G, Dell’Omo G, Lipp HP (2002) GPS tracking of foraging albatrosses. Science 295:1259

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weng K, Block B (2004) Diel vertical migration of the bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus), a species possessing orbital retia mirabilia. Fish Bull 102:221–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Weng KC, Castilho PC, Morrissette JM, Landiera-Fernandez A, Holts DB, Schallert RJ, Goldman KJ, Block BA (2005) Satellite Tagging and Cardiac Physiology Reveal Niche Expansion in Salmon Sharks. Science 310:104–106

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weng KC, O’Sullivan JB, Lowe CG, Winkler CE, Dewar H, Block BA (2007) Movements, behavior and habitat preferences of juvenile white sharks in the eastern Pacific as revealed by electronic tags. Mar Ecol Prog Ser

  • Wilson C (2003) Late Summer chlorophyll blooms in the oligotrophic North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Geophys Res Lett 30: 1942, doi:1910.1029/2003GL017770

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation, and by funding for the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics Program from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research. We thank C. Farwell, J. O’Sullivan, J. Ganong, A. Swithenbank, R. Matteson, M. Castleton, S. Teo, R. Schallert, C. Perle, S. Jorgensen, G. Shillinger, G. Strout, D. Kohrs, B. Syderman, R. Ridge, C. Wisner, T. O’Leary, R. Burnett, P. Capitolo, W. Richardson, D. Spight, C. Garcia, G. Saxton and T. Keswick. The study was conducted under permits from the California Department of Fish and Game and the US Fish and Wildlife Service; and performed in accordance with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Stanford University (protocol 6957-6).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Kevin C. Weng

    Present address: School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

  2. Andre M. Boustany

    Present address: Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

  3. Peter Pyle

    Present address: Institute for Bird Populations, P.O. Box 1346, Point Reyes Station, CA, 94956, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tuna Research and Conservation Center, Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, 120 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950, USA

    Kevin C. Weng, Andre M. Boustany & Barbara A. Block

  2. PRBO Conservation Science, 3820 Cypress Drive #11, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA

    Peter Pyle & Adam Brown

  3. P.O. Box 390, Inverness, CA, 94937, USA

    Scot D. Anderson

Authors
  1. Kevin C. Weng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andre M. Boustany
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter Pyle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Scot D. Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Adam Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Barbara A. Block
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara A. Block.

Additional information

Communicated by J.P. Grassle.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Weng, K.C., Boustany, A.M., Pyle, P. et al. Migration and habitat of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Mar Biol 152, 877–894 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0739-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0739-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation