Identification of young‐of‐the‐year great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran in northern Florida and South Carolina |
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| Authors: | A. M. Barker B. S. Frazier D. M. Bethea J. R. Gold D. S. Portnoy |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Marine Genomics Laboratory, Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Dr, Corpus Christi, TX, U.S.A.;2. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Marine Resources Research Institute, 217 Ft Johnson Rd, Charleston, SC, U.S.A.;3. NOAA NMFS, Southeast Regional Office, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Two sharks, visually identified in the field as young‐of‐the‐year (YOY) scalloped hammerhead Sphyrna lewini, were identified as great hammerhead Sphyrna mokarran based on nuclear‐encoded single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and sequences of mtDNA. Individuals were captured and released in Bulls Bay, SC, and Saint Joseph Bay, FL, in 2013 and 2014, respectively. These findings indicate S. mokarran may be pupping in or around these areas and highlight new regions that may be a productive focus for future research on early life history of S. mokarran. |
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| Keywords: | essential fish habitat molecular identification morphologically conserved species shark nursery Sphyrna |
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