First record of the megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios, (family Megachasmidae) in the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean

Authors

• Grisel Rodriguez-Ferrer, Recreational and Sport Fisheries Division
• Bradley M. Wetherbee, University of Rhode Island
• Michelle Schärer, HJR Reefscaping
• Craig Lilyestrom, Recreational and Sport Fisheries Division
• Jan P. Zegarra, Caribbean Field Office
• Mahmood Shivji, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

ResearcherID

G-4080-2013

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Marine Biodiversity Records

ISSN

1755-2672

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Keywords

Caribbean, DNA barcoding, First record, Megamouth shark, Puerto Rico, Range extension

Abstract

Background: A new record of Megachasma pelagios is here reported for the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean from Puerto Rico. Results: On December 10, 2016, a tourist reported an unusual stranded shark on Mojacasabe Beach, Cabo Rojo, on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. Visual examination of the carcass and mitochondrial DNA analysis from a dorsal fin sample revealed it to be a 457 cm female megamouth shark. Conclusion: This record represents the first record of M. pelagios for the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean within the Caribbean Sea of southwest Puerto Rico and only the second record of M. pelagios from the North Atlantic.

DOI

10.1186/s41200-017-0117-y

Volume

10

Issue

1

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NSUWorks Citation

Rodriguez-Ferrer, Grisel; Bradley M. Wetherbee; Michelle Schärer; Craig Lilyestrom; Jan P. Zegarra; and Mahmood Shivji. 2017. "First record of the megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios, (family Megachasmidae) in the tropical western North Atlantic Ocean." Marine Biodiversity Records 10, (1). doi:10.1186/s41200-017-0117-y.