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Sub-Antarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis, crossing hemispheres far offshore at São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago, Brazil

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Abstract

Unusual records of marine organisms beyond their known distribution range aid the identification of dispersal capabilities, health issues, changing oceanographic patterns and/or anomalies, and may drive attention to underlying shifts in the polar marine environment. Here we report on an adult male sub-Antarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis, sighted at Saint Peter and Saint Paul archipelago, also known as Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo (ASPSP) (00° 56′ N; 29° 22′ W), Brazil, on January 18–21, 2022. The animal appeared healthy and stayed in the rocky islands of the archipelago making frequent incursions to sea. We have compiled information from wandering individuals A. tropicalis and found that this is the first indisputable record for the species in the ASPSP, crossing the ecuador to the Northern Hemisphere. We suggest that it comes from Gough or Tristan da Cunha islands which are the closest breeding locations of this species. Therefore, this male traveled at least ~ 5500 km from the natal area and was 1931 km north from the second northernmost sighting of this species in Ascension Island. We speculate that this species may be using currents and/or shallower mid-ocean ridges to guide dispersal routes from subpolar regions to the North.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Data availability

Additional images of the record can be made available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Brazilian Navy (specially expedition number 589), SECIRM and the crew of the Araguari Ship, as well as the PROARQUIPELAGO Program for continued support. We appreciate the time and suggestions from Greg Hofmeyr and Jorge Acevedo that greatly improved our manuscript.

Funding

RSL thanks Globalstar do Brasil for funding and support, the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq-Brazil) for funding (process number 4433082019-5) and for her research fellowship (process number 312763/2019-0). LRO also thanks CNPq-Brazil for providing a research fellowship (process number 310621/2017-8). This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e Acústica (LECA) & Laboratório de Bioacústica (LaB), Departamento de Fisiologia & Comportamento, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, 59078-970, Brazil

    Renata S. Sousa-Lima & Manuela Bassoi

  2. Departamento de Oceanografia & Limnologia, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, 59090-001, Brazil

    Jorge E. Lins Oliveira

  3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, 59078-970, Brazil

    Renata S. Sousa-Lima & Manuela Bassoi

  4. Marinha do Brasil, Base Naval de Natal, Natal, RN, 59040-150, Brazil

    Fernando José dos Santos

  5. Laboratório de Ecologia de Mamíferos, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, São Leopoldo, Brazil

    Larissa R. Oliveira

  6. Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Aquáticos do Rio Grande do Sul (GEMARS), Torres, Brazil

    Larissa R. Oliveira

Authors
  1. Renata S. Sousa-Lima
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  2. Jorge E. Lins Oliveira
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  3. Manuela Bassoi
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  4. Fernando José dos Santos
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  5. Larissa R. Oliveira
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Contributions

FJS took the photographs and revised the manuscript. JELO participated in the elaboration of the idea for the manuscript, data collection, and text revision. RSS-L conceptualized the manuscript, identified the animal, drafted and edited the text. MB helped identify the animal, elaborated the map, and revised the manuscript. LRO helped identify the animal, revised and edited the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Renata S. Sousa-Lima.

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Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Procedures were cleared by the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Ethics Committee (Project Protocol 008-2021), executed under an SISBIO license numbers 28921-2 and endorsed by the PROARQUIPELAGO program responsible for research at the Navy Station of São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago (ASPSP).

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All providers of images that allowed identification of the animal and location of the record gave the authors written consent to use their image(s).

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Sousa-Lima, R.S., Lins Oliveira, J.E., Bassoi, M. et al. Sub-Antarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis, crossing hemispheres far offshore at São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago, Brazil. Polar Biol 45, 1145–1149 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-022-03046-z

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