Hostname: page-component-6898cfcb55-w5hgh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-11T20:22:40.623Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Presence of longfin mako shark Isurus paucus (Chondrichthyes: Lamnidae) in the south-eastern Gulf of Mexico, Tabasco, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2012

Armando T. Wakida-Kusunoki and
David de Anda-Fuente
Armando T. Wakida-Kusunoki*
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación Pesquera de Ciudad del Carmen, Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Avenida Héroes del 21 de Abril s/n Col. Playa Norte, Ciudad de Carmen, Campeche
David de Anda-Fuente
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación Pesquera de Yucalpetén, Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Boulevard del Pescador, esquina Antigua carretera a Chelem, Puerto de Abrigo, Yucalpetén, Yucatán
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A.T. Wakida-Kusunoki, Centro de Investigación Pesquera de Ciudad del Carmen, Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Avenida Héroes del 21 de Abril s/n Col. Playa Norte, Ciudad de Carmen, Campeche email: armandowakida@yahoo.com.mx

Abstract

A male longfin mako shark Isurus paucus of 303 cm total length was found during the monitoring of small scale fishery in Nuevo Torno Largo, Tabasco. This is the first record of the species in the south-eastern Gulf of Mexico. The specimen was caught by a small longline vessel at 18o49′45″N 94o08′14″W. Snout and ventral coloration, pectoral fin length and dorsal fin position were used to verify the identification.

Keywords

longfin mako sharkIsurus paucussouth-eastern Gulf of MexicoTabasco

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 5 , August 2012, e92
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

INTRODUCTION

The genus Isurus includes mackerel sharks which belong to the Lamnidae family and comprises two species: shortfin mako Isurus oxyrinchus Rafinesque, 1809 and longfin mako Isurus paucus Guitart-Manday, 1966 (Compagno, Reference Compagno2001). Isurus paucus can be distinguished from I. oxyrinchus because the shape of its snout is not sharply pointed; the underside of the snout and the mouth are dusky in adults and subadults; the pectoral fin is about as long as the head and relatively broad-tipped in young and adults, and the origin of the anal fin is close to the insertion of the second dorsal fin (Compagno, Reference Compagno and Carpenter2002).

The longfin mako has a probable worldwide distribution in temperate and tropical waters, but it has been poorly recorded (Compagno, Reference Compagno2001; Compagno et al., Reference Compagno, Dando and Fowler2005). The longfin mako has been reported in Japan (Nakaya, Reference Nakaya, Masuda, Amaoka, Araga, Uyeno and Yoshino1984), Taiwan (Shen, Reference Shen1993), South Brazil (Amorim et al., Reference Amorim, Arfelli and Fagundes1998), Chile (Bustamantes et al., Reference Bustamantes, Concha and Lamilla2009), Hawaii (Mundy, Reference Mundy2005), Fiji (Seeto & Baldwin, Reference Seeto and Baldwin2010), the central Pacific (north-east of Micronesia, between Solomon and Nauru Islands, area south of the Johnston and Hawaiian Islands, near Phoenix Island, north of Hawaiian Islands (Compagno, Reference Compagno2001)) and the Mexican Pacific coast (Ruiz-Campos et al., Reference Ruiz-Campos, Castro-Aguirre, Balart, Campos-Dávila and Vélez-Marín2010).

The presence of this species in the western Atlantic has been reported by Garrick (Reference Garrick1967) and Dodrill & Gilmore (Reference Dodrill and Gilmore1979), in the north-eastern Gulf of Mexico (Killam & Parsons, Reference Killam and Parsons1986), north-west African and Iberian Peninsula coast (Moreno & Morón, Reference Moreno and Morón1992), Venezuela (Cervigón, Reference Cervigón2005) and mid-North Atlantic (Queiroz et al., Reference Queiroz, Araujo, Ribeiro, Tarroso, Xavier and Santos2008). This species had hitherto not been reported in the south-eastern Gulf of Mexico; this account is the first record of the species in these waters.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A male longfin mako was detected in Nuevo Torno Largo landing port (18o25′57.78″N 93o09′53.8″) on the south-east coast of the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 1) on 25 February 2011. It was identified based on Compagno (Reference Compagno and Carpenter2002). After landing, the mako was sold and transported to La Viga fish market in Mexico City. The shark was captured 110 km north-west of Paraiso, Tabasco, Mexico (18o49′45″N 94o08′14″W) by a small scale longline fisherman, using baited hooks set near the surface, at a maximum depth of 300 m. The depth information was given by the fisherman and this was estimated using a Garmin fishfinder.

Fig. 1.

Map of Tabasco, Mexico showing the location where longfin mako was detected.

RESULTS

The longfin mako had a total length (TL, straight line distance from tip of snout to tip of tail) of 303 cm. Total weight was not taken; the gutted and headless weight of the specimen was 188 kg. The coloration of the ventral surface of the snout area was dark grey. Garrick (Reference Garrick1967) and Killam & Parsons (Reference Killam and Parsons1986) reported this coloration as an important distinguishing characteristic between I. paucus and the shortfin mako I. oxyrinchus which exhibits a creamy white coloration (Figure 2). Pectoral fin length measured 64 cm and represented about 21% of the TL. The origin of the dorsal fin was well behind the pectoral free rear tips. These are the main taxonomic characteristics for identifying a longfin mako (Bustamantes et al., Reference Bustamantes, Concha and Lamilla2009). A shark caudal fin was found in the stomach of the specimen; probably eaten by the longfin shark before being caught on the longline. On the same longline there were eight other sharks of the species Carcharhinus brevippina.

Fig. 2.

Comparison of snout and ventral coloration of Isurus paucus (A) and I. oxynchus (B), pectoral fin of the specimen detected of Isurus paucus (C).

DISCUSSION

This longfin mako capture extends the known range of the species well into the south-eastern Gulf of Mexico; however, the occurrence is rare since small scale shark fisheries and longline fleets in the southern Gulf of Mexico have not reported the presence of longfin mako (Oviedo et al., Reference Oviedo, González, Ramírez and Martínez Cruz2008; Ramírez et al., Reference Ramírez, Oviedo and González2008).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the workers in the capture reception centre in Torno Largo, Tabasco for providing support and fishing information. The authors also thank Fernando T. Wakida and Alvaro Hernandez Flores for proofreading an earlier version of this paper.

References

REFERENCES

Amorim, A.F., Arfelli, C.A. and Fagundes, L. (1998) Pelagic elasmobranchs caught by longliners off southern Brazil during 1974–97: an overview. Marine and Freshwater Research 49, 621–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bustamantes, C., Concha, F., Balbontín and Lamilla, J. (2009) Southernmost record of Isurus paucus Gitart-Manday, 1966 (Elasmobranchii: Lamnidae) in the southeast Pacific Ocean. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 44, 523–526.Google Scholar
Cervigón, F. (2005) La ictiofauna marina de Venezuela: una aproximación ecológica. Boletín del Instituto Oceanográfico de Venezuela, Universidad del Oriente 44, 3–28.Google Scholar
Compagno, L.J.V. (2001) Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. 2. Bullhead, mackerel and carpet sharks (Heterodontiformes, Lamniformes and Orectolobiformes). FAO Species Catalogue for Fisheries Purposes 1,2. Rome: FAO, 269 pp.Google Scholar
Compagno, L.J.V. (2002) Lamnidae. Mackerel sharks, makos, white sharks, porbeagles. In Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. Rome: FAO, pp. 433–441.Google Scholar
Compagno, L.J., Dando, V.M and Fowler, S. (2005) Sharks of the world. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dodrill, J.W. and Gilmore, R.T. (1979) First North American continental record of the longfin mako (Isurus paucus Guitart-Manday). Florida Scientist 42, 52–58.Google Scholar
Garrick, J.A.F. (1967) Revision of shark of genus Isurus with description a new species (Galeoidea, Lamnidae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 118, 668–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Killam, K.A. and Parsons, G.R. (1986) First record of the longfin mako Isurus paucus, in the Gulf of Mexico. Fishery Bulletin 84, 748–749.Google Scholar
Moreno, J.A. and Morón, J. (1992) Comparative study of the genus Isurus (Rafinesque, 1810), and description of a form (‘marajo criollo’) apparently endemic to the Azores. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 43, 109–122.Google Scholar
Mundy, B.C. (2005) Checklist of the fishes of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Bishop Museum Bulletins in Zoology. Bishop Museum Bulletin of Zoology 6, 1–704.Google Scholar
Nakaya, K. (1984) Lamnidae. In Masuda, H., Amaoka, K., Araga, C., Uyeno, T. and Yoshino, T. (eds) Fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Tokyo: Tokai University Press, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
Oviedo, J., González, L., Ramírez, K. and Martínez Cruz, L.E. (2008) Presencia de Isurus oxyrhincus(marrajo dientuso) y Prionace glauca (tintorera) en la pesquería ribereña de elasmobranquios en el Golfo de México. Madrid: ICAAT Scientific Committee Research Statistics, SCRS/146Google Scholar
Queiroz, N., Araujo, S., Ribeiro, P., Tarroso, P., Xavier, R. and Santos, A.M. (2008) A first record of longfin mako, Isurus paucus, in the mid-North Atlantic. Marine Biodiversity Records 1, e34. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1755267206003484.Google Scholar
Ramírez, K., Oviedo, J.L. and González, L. (2008) Captura incidental de marrajo dientuso y tintorera por la flota palangrera mexicana dedicada a la pesca de atún aleta amarilla en el Golfo de México durante 1994–2007. Madrid: Scientific Committee Research Statistics, SCRS/145.Google Scholar
Ruiz-Campos, G., Castro-Aguirre, J.L., Balart, E.F., Campos-Dávila, L. and Vélez-Marín, R. (2010) New specimens and records of chondrichthyan fishes (Vertebrata: Chondrichthyes) off the Mexican Pacific Coast. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 81, 363–371.Google Scholar
Seeto, J. and Baldwin, W.J. (2010) A checklist of the fishes of Fiji and a bibliography of Fijian fish. Suva, Fiji: Division of Marine Studies Technical Report 1/2010, The University of the South Pacific, 102 pp.Google Scholar
Shen, S.C. (ed.) (1993) Fishes of Taiwan. Taipei, Taiwan: Department of Zoology, National Taiwan University, 960 pp.Google Scholar
Figure 0

Fig. 1.Map of Tabasco, Mexico showing the location where longfin mako was detected.

Figure 1

Fig. 2.Comparison of snout and ventral coloration of Isurus paucus (A) and I. oxynchus (B), pectoral fin of the specimen detected of Isurus paucus (C).