Abstract
Age and growth estimates were determined for the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, from Oahu, Hawaii in the central Pacific Ocean. Age estimates were obtained through vertebral centra analysis of 187 sharks. We verified our age estimates through marginal increment analysis of centra and oxytetracycline marking methods of at liberty sandbar sharks. Sizes of sampled sharks ranged from 46 to 147 cm pre-caudal length. Four growth models were fitted to length-at-age data; two forms of the von Bertalanffy growth model, the Gompertz growth model, and a logistic growth model. Males and females exhibited statistically significant differences in growth, indicating that females grow slower and attain larger sizes than males. Growth parameter estimates revealed slower growth rates than previously estimated (based on captive specimens) for Hawaiian sandbar sharks. The von Bertalanffy growth model using empirical length-at-birth provided the best biological and statistical fit to the data. This model gave parameter estimates of L ∞ = 138.5 cm PCL and k = 0.12 year−1 for males and L ∞ = 152.8 cm PCL, k = 0.10 year−1 for females. Male and female sandbar sharks mature at approximately 8 and 10 years of age, respectively.
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Acknowledgements
We thank NOAA/NMFS for funding to the National Shark Research Consortium from which this study was supported. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. We thank John Carlson and Ken Goldman for their comments and for editing this volume. We thank the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology for graciously allowing us the use of vessels and lab space. We would be remiss not to thank the students, staff, and volunteers that assisted in sample collection and preparation, Kim Holland, Toby Daly-Engel, Nick Whitney, Yannis Papastamatiou, RaeMarie Johnson, Kanesa Duncan, Dave Itano, Amanda Southwood, Amy Long, Todd Gedamke, Christina Conrath, and Demetria Christo. This paper is Contribution No. 2709 of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary. This is Contribution No. 1209 of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.
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Romine, J.G., Grubbs, R.D. & Musick, J.A. Age and growth of the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, in Hawaiian waters through vertebral analysis. Environ Biol Fish 77, 229–239 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-006-9113-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-006-9113-5