Sharks / Sand Tiger Shark Round Table Abstracts
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The Legislative Conservation Status of the Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus) Joe Choromanski, Ripley's Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
The current legislative conservation status of the sand tiger shark varies by population, ocean and country. The entire population is viewed as VULNERABLE under the IUCN Red List with certain distinct populations in the SW Atlantic and both coasts of Australia as CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. This brief presentation will provide additional details on their legislative protection status. |
Development and Dissemination of Tools to Access Reproductive Status of Sand Tiger Sharks (Carcharias taurus) and Advance the Field of Assisted Reproduction in Sharks
Jennifer Wyffels, South East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction & Conservation (SEZARC) Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Nearly a quarter of all elasmobranchs, including the sand tiger shark, are listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Despite a long history of husbandry for sand tiger sharks dating back to the 1930’s, reproduction under managed care has been mostly unsuccessful. In 2014, the Florida Aquarium and North Carolina Aquariums, joined the South-East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction & Conservation (SEZARC) to spearhead a growing consortium of AZA institutions to work on a holistic approach of ensuring propagation of sand tiger sharks in aquaria. Understanding the reproductive seasonality of sand tiger sharks under managed care is the foundation for reproductive success. Focusing on the male, enzyme-linked hormone assays (EIA) have been validated for testosterone and serial dilutions (range=neat to 1:128) of pooled plasma yielded displacement curves parallel to the standard curve and recovery of known amounts of testosterone (0.002 – 1.0 ng/ml) added to pools of diluted plasma (1:100,) was 107% (y=0.9691x-0.0003, r2=0.999). Sharks (n=7) were sampled quarterly (n=3) or once or twice a year (n=4) for semen collection. Spermic ejaculates (range ~7-105 ml) were obtained in all months sampled (Jan, March, April, May, June, July, October, and December) but motile sperm were obtained only in March (n=1), April (n=2), May (n=2) and June (n=1) supporting seasonality for semen production. Additionally, semen from males under managed care that were collected in April and May were not able to be collected within 30 days suggesting a possible finite annual semen production period. Aquarium and husbandry professionals have committed their institutional knowledge, experience, and resources to enable this highly collaborative multi-institutional reproductive research with the goal of rapidly generating and disseminating information to advance the field of assisted reproductive technology for these and other shark species under managed care. |
Botox as a Possible Treatment for Spinal Problems in Sand Tiger Sharks Dr. Rob Jones and Sam Gilchrist, The Aquarium Vet Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Spinal problems (including scoliosis and kyphosis) are relatively common problems in Sand Tiger (Carcharias taurus) sharks maintained in captivity. A novel treatment using Botox has been trialed in one shark at the Manly SeaLife Sanctuary, Australia, with promising results over the past three years. The rationale for using Botox and a discussion of the procedure and outcome will be discussed. |
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Update on the Development of
Assisted Reproduction in Elasmobranchs and the Wild Shark Rescues Dr. Rob Jones and Jon Daly, The Aquarium Vet Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) include sperm collection and quality assessment, sperm cryopreservation, artificial insemination, and monitoring female reproductive condition and gestation via ultrasound. As a greater emphasis is placed on self-sustaining aquarium populations, ARTs will become an increasingly important component of breeding programs for elasmobranchs in aquaria. Ongoing research at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, Australia, aims to create a basis for future use of ARTs in elasmobranchs in aquaria worldwide. This is to ensure sustainable captive populations of elasmobranchs, as well as having the potential for conservation of species in the future. An update on the current status of ARTs and future areas of research will be discussed. I will also update on the wild Sand Tiger (Carcharias taurus) shark rescues that are occurring in Australia. |
New York Aquarium's New York Seascape Program and Sand Tiger Shark Field Research in the Great South Bay
Dave DeNardo, New York Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
The 16,000 square miles of ocean from Montauk, New York, to Cape May, New Jersey, are an ecological treasure trove, providing critical migration routes for globally threatened animals, including sea turtles, whales and sharks, as well as nursery grounds and critical habitat for hundreds of species. These are also among the busiest waters in the world, with over 22 million people along the coastline. The main goal of the Wildlife Conservation Societies New York Seascape Program is to ensure a safe place for marine wildlife among the many competing human uses including shipping, energy development, and commercial and recreational fishing. One of the specific strategies to obtain this goal is to conduct field research; this research is conducted in order to understand the migratory and habitat use of key species. The main research project being carried out in the Great South Bay of Long Island is the equipping sand tiger sharks with acoustic tags. Between 2012 and 2015 27 sand tiger sharks have been tagged and through this effort an important nursery ground has been identified. The outcome of this project and the many others being conducted by the New York Seascape Program will be highlighted in the interruptive graphics in the New York Aquarium’s new Ocean Wonders: Shark! exhibit. |
Sand Tiger Sharks and the Graveyard of the Atlantic: Understanding the Role of this Critical Habitat
Hap Fatzinger, North Carolina Aquariums Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
No abstract |
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Internal Acoustic Transceivers Reveal
the Annual Social Network Patterns in a Coastal Predator Danielle Haulsee, University of Delaware Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Sand Tigers (Carcharias taurus) are large apex predators resident in the coastal ocean along the Eastern US Coast. Although Delaware Bay and surrounding coastal waters are known summer “hot spots” for Sand Tigers, our understanding of their seasonal movements is less well known. Since 2007, we have implanted more than 300 VEMCO acoustic transmitters in Sand Tigers, which have been detected from Cape Canaveral, Florida to Long Island, New York by collaborators in the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry (ACT) Network. During the summer of 2012, 20 Sand Tigers were implanted with VEMCO Mobile Transceivers (VMTs), which are capable of both transmitting and receiving coded acoustic pings. To date, two of the 20 sharks have been recaptured, and their VMTs recovered. VMTs recorded detections of 350 individuals, from 8 different species. We analyzed their intra- and interspecific social network, which allowed us to reconstruct the approximate locations of Sand Tigers throughout the year. Changes in the interspecific population dynamics throughout the year revealed evidence of fission-fusion social behavior, which is common in mammals, but rarely documented in non-mammalian species. This project is a unique look at the social network of an apex predator and is a useful model for studies quantifying the social structures of marine animals. In addition, understanding how the aggregations of this species changes (in terms of sex and size class segregation) on spatiotemporal scales is critical for effective protection of the species and will be useful as managers develop conservation plans along the East Coast. |
Call for Sand Tiger Shark Data to
Analyze Captive Health and Potential Reproductive Cues Emily F. Christiansen and Christian Legner, North Carolina Aquariums Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
In December 2015, the first sand tiger shark reproduction workshop was held at the White Oak Conservation Center. The workshop brought together aquarium personnel and researchers to create a vision and strategy for sustainable sand tiger shark populations under managed care and in the wild. During the meeting the need for increased information sharing about captive care, reproductive techniques, and wild populations was recognized as a vital conservation tool. With numerous US facilities keeping sand tiger sharks for public display, the aquarium industry is poised to contribute on a large scale to sand tiger shark conservation in the face of declining wild populations, as well as sustainability and optimal husbandry for the display population. Many institutions are joining with the South-East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction and Conservation (SEZARC) in the process of developing reproductive techniques on adult sand tigers in captivity, including semen collection, preservation, and artificial insemination. One vital component of this project is to identify parameters that may support successful captive reproduction and rearing of this species. To this end, the participants of the working groups would like to call on facilities caring for sand tiger sharks to contribute information on husbandry practices, behavior, nutrition, veterinary care, and outcomes. In order to create a comprehensive set of data that will allow researchers to compare variables on a large scale, we hope to collect holistic information from the time of animal collection to postmortem examination. We will present the framework for the data that is requested as well as a discussion of how the data will be collected, stored, and utilized for scientific gain. |