Strongly directional and differential swimming behavior of an adult female white shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Chondrichthyes: Lamnidae) from Guadalupe Island, Mexico

Abstract

We report on an adult female white shark tracked for 288 days and 7,100 km in the NE Pacific Ocean. The shark, tagged with a real-time satellite tag off Guadalupe Island, Mexico in October 2006, remained around the island for 3.5 months but left in early February 2007 for a ca. 3,900 km westward migration. Heading and swimming speed data showed that: a) the arc-like route followed by this shark during oceanic travel involved strongly directional rapid movement, and b) once the shark arrived to a specific (ca. 680 km wide) area located 790 km north-northeast of the Hawaiian Islands, it switched into a distinct roaming behavior. The shark remained in this roaming area from late March to at least late July 2007. We show that real-time satellite tags can provide unique and valuable information about the migratory behavior of white sharks.

Keywords

• Carcharodon carcharias
• tiburón blanco
• marcas satelitales de tiempo real
• migraciones oceánicas
• velocidad sostenida de nado
• telemetría