Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Habitat Utilization and Short-Duration Movements of the Pelagic Stingray Pteroplatytrygon violacea in the Western North Atlantic

Event Name/Location

19th Annual Spring Meeting of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society, Tampa, Florida, January 13-16, 2011

Presentation Date

1-15-2011

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

ORCID ID

0000-0002-4440-8767

ResearcherID

I-5396-2012

Description

The pelagic stingray Pteroplatytrygon violacea is the only true pelagic dasyatid stingray, and the species is commonly encountered as bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery targeting swordfish and tunas. However, very little is known about its habitat utilization and whether depth or temperature differences between the pelagic stingray and the pelagic longline gear type could be used to develop fisheries bycatch mitigation techniques. Three pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) with 13-day deployment durations were deployed on pelagic stingrays in 2010 in both the South Atlantic Bight (n=1) and the northern Gulf of Mexico (n=2). Data from these tags indicate a clear diel difference in behavior, with all three animals displaying deeper depth utilizations during daylight periods. All three animals also displayed frequent short-duration (ca. 5-minute lengths) movements of more than 50 m from the ”baseline“ depth of the diel period and a thermal range of approximately 8° C over a 24-hour period.

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