First evidence of a palaeo-nursery area of the great white shark

Abstract

Shark nurseries are essential habitats for shark survival. Notwithstanding the rich fossil record of the modern great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias, GWS), its use of nursery areas in the fossil record has never been assessed before. Here, we analysed the fossil record of the GWS from three South American Pliocene localities, assessed body size distributions and applied previously established criteria to identify palaeo-nurseries. We found that juveniles dominate the Coquimbo locality (Chile), whereas subadults and adults characterize Pisco (Peru) and Caldera (Chile), respectively. These results, summed to the paleontological and paleoenvironmental record of the region, suggest that Coquimbo represents the first nursery area for the GWS in the fossil record. Our findings demonstrate that one of the top predators in today's oceans has used nursery areas for millions of years, highlighting their importance as essential habitats for shark survival in deep time.

A megatoothed shark (Carcharocles angustidens) nursery in the Oligocene Charleston Embayment, South Carolina, USA

“…Three criteria have been proposed to identify paleo-nursery areas for extinct sharks: nursery areas must consist of 1) relatively shallow water environments with 2) high primary productivity with abundant prey species, and 3) a preponderance of young individuals (Castro, 1993;Heithaus, 2007;Heupel et al, 2007;Pimiento et al, 2010;Landini et al, 2017;Villafaña et al, 2020;Herraiz et al, 2020). The Chandler Bridge Formation is clearly a shallow shelf deposit, and some evidence from this unit suggests the Charleston Embayment was somewhat protected (Katuna et al, 1997).…”

“…Multiple species may use the same nursery area (Castro, 1993). Many ancient examples of shark nurseries have been interpreted from the Cenozoic fossil record, based on a preponderance of juvenile or neonate teeth, evidence of protected shallow marine settings, and abundant potential prey or high primary productivity (Pimiento et al, 2010;Landini et al, 2017;Herraiz et al, 2020;Villafaña et al, 2020). Nurseries for the megatoothed shark C. megalodon have been reported from Miocene and Pliocene assemblages in Panama, Spain, and the Atlantic coast of the USA (Maryland and Florida; Pimiento et al, 2010;Herraiz et al, 2020).…”

Decoding the dynamics of dental distributions: insights from shark demography and dispersal

“…Documenting the success of sharks as marine predators has followed a trail of fossilized teeth, accumulating in ocean sediments and indirectly recording their ecological variability and the oceanic conditions in which they lived. While fossil shark teeth assemblages have been used to elucidate water temperature and salinity [ 2 ] as well as species’ age distributions [ 3 ], ontogenetic stages [ 4 ] and the presence of nurseries [ 5 , 6 ], the ecological mechanisms driving population size structure remain enigmatic even in extant populations. Given that tooth size scales allometrically with body size [ 7 ], accumulations of shark teeth within narrow temporal windows may provide insight into the functioning of shark populations and communities.…”

Use of nursery areas by the extinct megatooth shark Otodus megalodon (Chondrichthyes: Lamniformes)

“…Despite the utility of more recently proposed criteria in defining shark nursery areas, these are usually difficult to apply to extinct species and the recognition of nurseries in the fossil record is therefore challenging (see Heupel et al [20,22] for a detailed discussion on the evolution of the concept for modern taxa). The existence of palaeonurseries has been recently supported by the presence of either abundant fossilized egg cases [26], biased representations of juveniles [8,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], or both [36,37]. Accordingly, the late Miocene Gatún Formation (Panama) has been proposed as a possible nursery area for O. megalodon based on the high proportion of juvenile individuals [27].…”