Detecting and determining the validity of local extinctions is an important conservation measure in order to uncover management failures. There are quantitative and qualitative methods that estimate extinction probability based on past sighting records. However, because current baselines about species’ abundances and distributions in the sea were mostly established after humans had started affe...

Empirical data on the abundance and habitat preferences of coral reef top predators are needed to evaluate their ecological impacts and guide management decisions. We used longline surveys to quantify the shark assemblage at French Frigate Shoals (FFS) atoll from May to August 2009. Fishing effort consisted of 189 longline sets totaling 6,862 hook hours of soak time. A total of 221 sharks from ...

Blacktip reef sharks Carcharhinus melanopterus were the most abundant predator in the lagoons at Palmyra Atoll. They were evenly distributed throughout the lagoons, although there was some evidence of sexual segregation. Males reach sexual maturity between 940-1,020 mm L(T). Bird remains were found in some C. melanopterus stomachs. C. melanopterus at Palmyra appear to be smaller than those at o...

Two species of carcharhinid sharks aggregate every winter at the warm water effluent a coastal power plant on Israeli Mediterranean coast. The two (Carcharhinus obscurus and Carcharhinus plumbeus) cooccur in highly confined area for several months year are associated with around hot effluent. Niche partitioning has recently been suggested as mechanism that enables coexistence similar shark by r...

changes in the fatty acid composition and biochemical indices of mackerel (which has a substantial lipid content) and shark (which has negligible lipid content) fillets stored at - 18°c for up to six months were measured. lipid content was measured (6.35% and 1.38%) in mackerel and shark, respectively; however it decreased during frozen storage in both fish species. in analysis of fatty acids t...

This experimental study focused on the possible deterrent effect of permanent magnets on adult sandbar sharks Carcharhinus plumbeus. Results showed that the presence of a magnetic field significantly reduced the number of approaches of conditioned C. plumbeus towards a target indicating that adult C. plumbeus can be deterred by strong magnetic fields. These data, therefore, confirm that the use...