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Life history of the silvertip shark Carcharhinus albimarginatus from Papua New Guinea

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Abstract

Growth and maturity of the silvertip shark Carcharhinus albimarginatus from Papua New Guinea were estimated to form the basis of future population assessments. Samples were collected from commercial longline vessels targeting sharks in the Bismarck and Solomon Seas. A total of 48 C. albimarginatus—28 males (95–219 cm total length, TL) and 20 females (116–250 cm TL)—provided data for the analyses. Employing back-calculation techniques accounted for missing juvenile length classes and supplemented the sample size. A multi-model framework incorporating the Akaike information criterion was used to estimate growth parameters. The von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) provided the best-fit growth estimates. Parameter estimates were L 0  = 72.1 cm TL, k = 0.04 yr−1 and L ∞  = 311.3 cm TL for males; and L 0  = 70.8 cm TL, k = 0.02 yr−1 and L ∞  = 497.9 cm TL for females. The biologically implausible L ∞ occurred for females as their growth did not asymptote; a typical trait of large shark species. The maximum age estimated from vertebral analysis was 18 yr for both sexes, while the calculated longevity from the VBGF parameters was 27.4 yr for males and 32.2 yr for females. Males matured at 174.7 cm TL and 10.5 yr old, while females matured at 208.9 cm TL and 14.8 yr old.

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Acknowledgements

This research was co-funded by the Papua New Guinea National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (project FIS/2012/102); special thanks to Drs Chris Barlow and Jes Sammut for their support of this project. We would like to thank the fishers and the NFA onboard fisheries observers: Jackson Maravee, Noah Lurang Jr, Daniel Sau, Murphy John, Paliau Parkop, Towai Peli and Udill Jotham for their efforts in collecting data and samples. The authors would like to thank Brian Kumasi, Luanah Yaman, Leban Gisawa and Ludwig Kumoru from the NFA for facilitating this project, as well as Brooke D’Alberto, Samantha Sherman, Satoshi Shiratsuchi and Andrea Cabrera Garcia for their laboratory assistance. The lead author was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award, an Oceania Chondrichthyan Society Passions of Paradise Student Research Award and a CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (formerly Wealth from Oceans) scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture & College of Engineering and Science, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia

    Jonathan J. Smart, Andrew Chin, Leontine Baje, Andrew J. Tobin & Colin A. Simpfendorfer

  2. National Fisheries Authority, National Capital District, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

    Leontine Baje

  3. CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    William T. White

  4. Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO National Research Collections Australia, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    William T. White

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  1. Jonathan J. Smart
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Correspondence to Jonathan J. Smart.

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Communicated by Ecology Editor Dr. Alastair Harborne

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Smart, J.J., Chin, A., Baje, L. et al. Life history of the silvertip shark Carcharhinus albimarginatus from Papua New Guinea. Coral Reefs 36, 577–588 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-016-1533-x

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