Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Diel Movement Patterns of the Hawaiian Stingray, Dasyatis Lata: Implications for Ecological Interactions between Sympatric Elasmobranch Species

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2003

Publication Title

Marine Biology

ISSN

0025-3162

Volume

142

Issue/No.

5

First Page

841

Last Page

847

Abstract

The Hawaiian stingray, Dasyatis lata, is a common benthic elasmobranch in nearshore Hawaiian waters. Acoustic telemetry was used to track the movements of seven rays in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. Rays were tracked continuously over 31–74 h periods. Geographical movements were analyzed to determine space utilization and rate of movement. Rays were found to utilize significantly larger activity spaces at night (0.83±0.70 km2) (mean±SD) than during the day (0.12±0.15 km2). Mean total activity space for rays tracked was 1.32±0.75 km2. Rates of movement were also significantly higher at night (0.34±0.30 km h-1) than during the day (0.15±0.22 km h-1). Average straight-line swimming speed was 0.64±0.16 km h-1, with a maximum observed swimming speed of 1.9 km h-1. Tidal stage had no effect on rate of movement. Comparison with previously published data on juvenile scalloped hammerhead sharks, Sphyrna lewini, in Kaneohe Bay revealed a high degree of overlap in habitat use and time of activity, suggesting possible ecological interactions between these two species.

Comments

©Springer-Verlag 2003

ORCID ID

0000-0002-3753-8950

DOI

10.1007/s00227-003-1014-y

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Peer Reviewed

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