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A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba

The Red Sea is particularly biodiverse, hosting high levels of endemism and numerous populations whose extinction risk is heightened by their relative isolation. Elasmobranchs and sea turtles have likely suffered recent declines in this region, although data on their distribution and biology are sev...

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Autores principales: Garzon, Francesco, Williams, Collin T., Cochran, Jesse E. M., Tanabe, Lyndsey K., Abdulla, Ameer, Berumen, Michael L., Habis, Thamer, Marshall, Paul A., Rodrigue, Mattie, Hawkes, Lucy A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9524659/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36178940
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275511
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author Garzon, Francesco
Williams, Collin T.
Cochran, Jesse E. M.
Tanabe, Lyndsey K.
Abdulla, Ameer
Berumen, Michael L.
Habis, Thamer
Marshall, Paul A.
Rodrigue, Mattie
Hawkes, Lucy A.
author_facet Garzon, Francesco
Williams, Collin T.
Cochran, Jesse E. M.
Tanabe, Lyndsey K.
Abdulla, Ameer
Berumen, Michael L.
Habis, Thamer
Marshall, Paul A.
Rodrigue, Mattie
Hawkes, Lucy A.
author_sort Garzon, Francesco
collection PubMed
description The Red Sea is particularly biodiverse, hosting high levels of endemism and numerous populations whose extinction risk is heightened by their relative isolation. Elasmobranchs and sea turtles have likely suffered recent declines in this region, although data on their distribution and biology are severely lacking, especially on the eastern side of the basin in Saudi Arabian waters. Here, we present sightings of elasmobranchs and sea turtles across the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba collected through a combination of survey methods. Over 455 survey hours, we recorded 407 sightings belonging to 26 elasmobranch species and two sea turtle species, more than 75% of which are of conservation concern. We identified 4 species of rays and 9 species of sharks not previously recorded in Saudi Arabia and report a range extension for the pink whipray (Himantura fai) and the round ribbontail ray (Taeniurops meyeni) into the Gulf of Aqaba. High density of sightings of conservation significance, including green and hawksbill sea turtles and halavi guitarfish were recorded in bay systems along the eastern Gulf of Aqaba and the Saudi Arabian coastline bordering the north-eastern Red Sea, and many carcharhinid species were encountered at offshore seamounts in the region. Our findings provide new insights into the distribution patterns of megafaunal assemblages over smaller spatial scales in the region, and facilitate future research and conservation efforts, amidst ongoing, large-scale coastal developments in the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba.
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spelling pubmed-95246592022-10-01 A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba Garzon, Francesco Williams, Collin T. Cochran, Jesse E. M. Tanabe, Lyndsey K. Abdulla, Ameer Berumen, Michael L. Habis, Thamer Marshall, Paul A. Rodrigue, Mattie Hawkes, Lucy A. PLoS One Research Article The Red Sea is particularly biodiverse, hosting high levels of endemism and numerous populations whose extinction risk is heightened by their relative isolation. Elasmobranchs and sea turtles have likely suffered recent declines in this region, although data on their distribution and biology are severely lacking, especially on the eastern side of the basin in Saudi Arabian waters. Here, we present sightings of elasmobranchs and sea turtles across the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba collected through a combination of survey methods. Over 455 survey hours, we recorded 407 sightings belonging to 26 elasmobranch species and two sea turtle species, more than 75% of which are of conservation concern. We identified 4 species of rays and 9 species of sharks not previously recorded in Saudi Arabia and report a range extension for the pink whipray (Himantura fai) and the round ribbontail ray (Taeniurops meyeni) into the Gulf of Aqaba. High density of sightings of conservation significance, including green and hawksbill sea turtles and halavi guitarfish were recorded in bay systems along the eastern Gulf of Aqaba and the Saudi Arabian coastline bordering the north-eastern Red Sea, and many carcharhinid species were encountered at offshore seamounts in the region. Our findings provide new insights into the distribution patterns of megafaunal assemblages over smaller spatial scales in the region, and facilitate future research and conservation efforts, amidst ongoing, large-scale coastal developments in the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba. Public Library of Science 2022-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9524659/ /pubmed/36178940 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275511 Text en © 2022 Garzon et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Garzon, Francesco
Williams, Collin T.
Cochran, Jesse E. M.
Tanabe, Lyndsey K.
Abdulla, Ameer
Berumen, Michael L.
Habis, Thamer
Marshall, Paul A.
Rodrigue, Mattie
Hawkes, Lucy A.
A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba
title A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba
title_full A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba
title_fullStr A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba
title_full_unstemmed A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba
title_short A multi-method characterization of Elasmobranch & Cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba
title_sort multi-method characterization of elasmobranch & cheloniidae communities of the north-eastern red sea and gulf of aqaba
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9524659/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36178940
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275511
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