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Cookie-cutter shark Isistius brasiliensis eats Bryde’s whale Balaenoptera brydei

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Abstract

We examined the stomach contents of cookie-cutter sharks, Isistius brasiliensis, collected by drift-net surveys in the western North Pacific in the early summer. The stomachs contained fresh flesh plugs and cephalopod beaks. Approximately half of the flesh plugs were identified as Bryde’s whale, Balaenoptera brydei, based on genetic analysis, and several of the lower beaks were identified as boreal clubhook squid, Onychoteuthis borealijaponica. The range of estimated dorsal mantle lengths for the squids was 60–172 mm. These results are evidence of predation by of cookie-cutter sharks on cetaceans and of an overlap in the vertical distribution of both species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the captain and crews of the R/V Kaiun-maru of the Aomori Prefectural Industrial Technology Research Center. We also thank Mitsuo Sakai, then of the Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, FRA, Jun-ichi Abo, currently of the Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, FRA, and Yoshiki Kato of the Marine Fisheries Research and Development Center, FRA, who provided cookie-cutter shark specimens. The study was performed in compliance with the local laws and the Guidelines for the Use of Fishes in Research of the Ichthyological Society of Japan. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 4403-A03-2412008 (New Ocean Paradigm on its Biogeochemistry, Ecosystem and Sustainable Use).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, 2-12-4 Fukuura, Kanazawa, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-8648, Japan

    Chisato Murakami, Hideyoshi Yoshida & Shiroh Yonezaki

  2. Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870, Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway

    Shiroh Yonezaki

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  1. Chisato Murakami
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  2. Hideyoshi Yoshida
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  3. Shiroh Yonezaki
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Correspondence to Shiroh Yonezaki.

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Murakami, C., Yoshida, H. & Yonezaki, S. Cookie-cutter shark Isistius brasiliensis eats Bryde’s whale Balaenoptera brydei. Ichthyol Res 65, 398–404 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-018-0619-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-018-0619-6

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