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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Megafauna
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1500176

Identification of the first gestational ground for tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) in the Central Indian Ocean using a high-definition submersible ultrasound

Provisionally accepted
James Sulikowski James Sulikowski *Nathan Perisic Nathan Perisic Arzucan Askin Arzucan Askin Lennart Vossgaetter Lennart Vossgaetter Filippo Bocchi Filippo Bocchi Hamna Hussain Ali Didi Hamna Hussain Ali Didi Ahmed Inah Ahmed Inah Tatiana Ivanova Tatiana Ivanova
  • Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The reproductive state of wild, free-swimming tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier), was assessed using underwater ultrasonography at a diving site in Fuvahmulah, a Maldivian atoll within the central Indian Ocean. The presence of embryos were observed in 93% of the adult sharks (26/28) and two distinct embryonic size groups were observed within the subset of scanned adult females. The results suggest that the observed dive site functions as a gestation ground and builds upon previous work that emphasizes the importance of dive sites for the collection of biological data for shark conservation and management.

    Keywords: Emerging technologies1, gestation ground2, conservation3, management4, ecotourism5

    Received: 22 Sep 2024; Accepted: 11 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Sulikowski, Perisic, Askin, Vossgaetter, Bocchi, Hussain Ali Didi, Inah and Ivanova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: James Sulikowski, Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.