Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Oct 7;310(5745):100-3.
doi: 10.1126/science.1114898.

Transoceanic migration, spatial dynamics, and population linkages of white sharks

Ramón Bonfil  1 , Michael Meÿer, Michael C Scholl, Ryan Johnson, Shannon O'Brien, Herman Oosthuizen, Stephan Swanson, Deon Kotze, Michael Paterson
Affiliations

Transoceanic migration, spatial dynamics, and population linkages of white sharks

Ramón Bonfil et al. Science. .

Abstract

The large-scale spatial dynamics and population structure of marine top predators are poorly known. We present electronic tag and photographic identification data showing a complex suite of behavioral patterns in white sharks. These include coastal return migrations and the fastest known transoceanic return migration among swimming fauna, which provide direct evidence of a link between widely separated populations in South Africa and Australia. Transoceanic return migration involved a return to the original capture location, dives to depths of 980 meters, and the tolerance of water temperatures as low as 3.4 degrees C. These findings contradict previous ideas that female white sharks do not make transoceanic migrations, and they suggest natal homing behavior.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types