The potential use of caudal thorns as a non-invasive ageing structure in the thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata Donovan, 1808)

Gallagher, Michael; Green, Marianne J.; Nolan, Conor P.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5570-6_6

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The radiocarbon-based age validation of thorny skates is also supported by a long-term tagging study by Templeman (1984), which demonstrated that thorny skate live to at least 20 years of age. In contrast, other more recent studies have obtained substantially younger maximum ages of 15-16 years (Sulikowski et al, 2005;Gallagher et al, 2006). Other studies on skates and rays have inferred maximum ages close to or more than 28 years (D. batis, 50 years, Dubuit, 1972;Dipturus innominatus, 24 years, Francis et al, 2001; Dasyatis americana 26-28 years, Henningsen, 2002), but age interpretations were either not validated or validated using less rigorous methods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Bomb dating and age determination of skates (family Rajidae) off the eastern coast of Canada

McPhie

Campana

2009

ICES Journal of Marine Science

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McPhie, R. P., and Campana, S. E. 2009. Bomb dating and age determination of skates (family Rajidae) off the eastern coast of Canada. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 546–560. Recent declines in abundance of skates off the eastern coast of Canada have heightened the need for validated age and growth estimates in the region. In all, 502 winter (Leucoraja ocellata), little (Leucoraja erinacea), thorny (Amblyraja radiata), and smooth (Malacoraja senta) skate vertebral centra collected seasonally between 1999 and 2004 were sectioned using a mass processing method, then used to reconstruct growth in each species. Bomb radiocarbon (Δ14C) analysis was used to provide evidence of annual band-pair deposition in thorny skates. Estimates of L∞ from traditional von Bertalanffy growth models (VBGM) ranged from 60.6 cm (little skate) to 89.7 cm (thorny skate), and K estimates from 0.07 (thorny skate) to 0.19 (little skate). A modified two-parameter VBGM (Lmax = 94.1 cm) fitted to winter skate length-at-age data yielded a value of K of 0.15. Maximum observed ages ranged from 12 (little skate) to 19 years in both winter and thorny skates. The year-specific incorporation of Δ14C milled from thorny and winter skate vertebral sections closely resembled shark-derived reference chronology values from the Northwest Atlantic. Pre-bomb Δ14C in a thorny skate collected in 1988 and aged at 23 years appeared to validate age interpretations and suggested that thorny skate reach an absolute age of at least 28 years, the oldest validated age reported for any species of batoid.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Bomb dating and age determination of skates (family Rajidae) off the eastern coast of Canada

McPhie

Campana

2009

ICES Journal of Marine Science

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“…In those chondrichthyans for which neither vertebrae nor spines were useful for ageing, other structures, such as caudal thorns (Gallagher & Nolan, ; Gallagher et al , ), and neural arches (McFarlane et al , ) have been used. Counts of growth bands in the dorsal‐fin spines of squaloids and chimaeras and in the neural arches of hexanchiformes (McFarlane & Beamish, ) have proven useful, although they have only been validated for a few species (Cailliet & Goldman, ; Goldman et al , ).…”

Section: More Recent Approaches and Structures In Elasmobranch Age Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on elasmobranch life‐history studies: a focus on age validation and relevance to fishery management

Cailliet

2015

Journal of Fish Biology

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Life-history (age, growth, age validation, reproduction and demography) studies of elasmobranchs date back to the middle of the last century with major early contributions made by British fishery scientists. As predicted by Holden in the early 1970s, many sharks and rays can be vulnerable to fishery mortality because they grow slowly, mature late in life, reproduce infrequently, have relatively low fecundities and can have relatively long life spans. As has now been found, however, not all species exhibit these traits. Also, ageing structures (neural arches and caudal thorns), other than vertebrae and spines, have since been evaluated. Various methods for validating age and growth estimates have been developed and tested on numerous species of elasmobranchs. These include tag-recapture analyses, oxytetracycline injections, centrum or spine edge and marginal increment analyses, and bomb radiocarbon dating of calcified structures. Application of these techniques has sometimes not only validated relatively slow growth and long life span estimates, but also has produced other results. A brief historical perspective on the applications and limitations of these techniques for elasmobranchs is provided, along with a discussion of selected species for which these techniques worked well, did not work at all or have produced variable and conflicting results. Because many fishery management techniques utilize age or stage-specific information, often through demographic analyses, accurate information on the life histories of fished populations, especially age validation, is extremely important for the fishery management of these cartilaginous fishes.

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“…For the vast majority of deep-water elasmobranchs, poor mineralization of the vertebral centra results in low discernibility in the banding patterns and contributes to the lack of age information (Goldman et al, 2012;Cotton et al, 2014;Cailliet, 2015). Subsequently, a variety of different structures and alternative ageing methods have been developed: dorsal-fin spines (Irvine et al, 2006;Cotton et al, 2011), caudal thorns (Henderson et al, 2004;Gallagher et al, 2006), near-infrared spectroscopy (Rigby et al, 2014) and eye lenses (Francis et al, 2018). With the deep-water expansion of fisheries, it is imperative to develop life history information for deep-water elasmobranchs and, antecedently, apply ageing techniques to generate critical agegrowth information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary age and growth of the deep-water goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Jordan, 1898)

Caltabellotta¹,

Siders²,

Cailliet³

et al. 2021

Mar. Freshwater Res.

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Owing to poorly mineralising structures, ageing deep-water elasmobranchs requires unconventional techniques. The aim of the present study was to develop an ageing method for the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Jordan, 1898) using Alcian blue staining of the vertebral column. One vertebral centrum from a male individual measuring 315.2-cm total length (TL) was aged with a minimum age of 27 years. Using a Bayesian von Bertalanffy growth model informed by back-calculated length at age, a literature search of maximum male TL, the TL of the smallest free-swimming individuals and informative priors, we estimated males grow to 374cm TL, mature at 16 years and live up to 60 years. Our results provide useful life history information, with the aim of elucidating the cryptic biology of this deep-water shark.

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The potential use of caudal thorns as a non-invasive ageing structure in the thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata Donovan, 1808)

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Bomb dating and age determination of skates (family Rajidae) off the eastern coast of Canada

Bomb dating and age determination of skates (family Rajidae) off the eastern coast of Canada

Perspectives on elasmobranch life‐history studies: a focus on age validation and relevance to fishery management

Preliminary age and growth of the deep-water goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Jordan, 1898)

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