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New insights into the trophic ecology of the scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini, in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean

Environmental Biology of Fishes volume 104, pages 1611–1627 (2021)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 01 December 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

Scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini, is considered a generalist predator, showing individual specializations and different trophic levels. This species inhabits both oceanic islands and coastal nursery areas in the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP) Ocean. Existing trophic ecology studies on S. lewini have been focused on stomach contents. This study provides new insights into its foraging preferences, habitat use, and trophic position, using stable isotope analysis (SIA) of muscle tissue. Stable isotope signatures of δ13C and δ15N were determined in S. lewini muscles (n = 29) from the Ecuadorian Pacific in 2013. Trophic position (TP), isotopic niches, and overlap of S. lewini were estimated by sex, age, and maturity stages to infer their dietary habits throughout life stages. SIA revealed complex movement patterns related to sex and age classes of S. lewini, highlighting high degrees of dietary plasticity and habitat use, with a stronger relation to coastal regions than previously reported. This study provides crucial information regarding essential areas and the related migration behavior of S. lewini, with important implications for their conservation and management in the ETP.

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Fig. 1

modified from Rincón-Martínez et al. (2010); Blue dashed line: Galapagos Islands Marine Reserve; Exclusive Economic Zone: yellow polygons

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Change history

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the artisanal fishermen communities who supported the sampling for this project and a great acknowledgement to the Fundación Alium Pacific for logistical support and the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra in Granada (CSIC-UGR), Spain, for the technical assistance in the analysis. Thanks to D. Edgar for editing our text for English. We thank the anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript.

Funding

The Fundación Alium Pacific supported and provided funding for sampling and laboratory analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fundación Alium Pacific, Carrera 26 No. 5C–13, Santiago de Cali, Colombia

    Colombo Estupiñán-Montaño & Elena Tamburin

  2. Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR), Armilla, Granada, Spain

    Antonio Delgado-Huertas

Authors
  1. Colombo Estupiñán-Montaño
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  2. Elena Tamburin
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  3. Antonio Delgado-Huertas
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Contributions

CEM and ET conceived the manuscript and data generation, analysis, and interpretation and wrote and edited the manuscript. ADH co-wrote the manuscript and edited all the draft versions of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Colombo Estupiñán-Montaño.

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Ethics approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All sampling processes and experimental procedures in this study were performed complying with Ecuadorian legislation.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Estupiñán-Montaño, C., Tamburin, E. & Delgado-Huertas, A. New insights into the trophic ecology of the scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini, in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Environ Biol Fish 104, 1611–1627 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01187-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01187-4

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