Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T16:47:10.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Photo-grammetric measurements of swimming speed and body length of basking sharks observed around the Hebrides, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2009

Claire Lacey ,
Russell Leaper ,
Anna Moscrop ,
Douglas Gillespie ,
Richard McLanaghan  and
Steve Brown
Claire Lacey*
Affiliation:
International Fund for Animal Welfare, 87–90 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7UD
Russell Leaper
Affiliation:
International Fund for Animal Welfare, 87–90 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7UD
Anna Moscrop
Affiliation:
International Fund for Animal Welfare, 87–90 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7UD
Douglas Gillespie
Affiliation:
Sea Mammal Research Unit, Gatty Marine Labotatory, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife
Richard McLanaghan
Affiliation:
International Fund for Animal Welfare, 87–90 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7UD
Steve Brown
Affiliation:
Ocean Alliance, 191 Weston Road, Lincoln, MA 01773 USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: C. Lacey, International Fund for Animal Welfare, 87–90 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7UD email: clacey@ifaw.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Photo-grammetric techniques developed for measuring body length and small scale movement patterns of cetaceans were applied to surface swimming basking sharks off the west coast of Scotland. These methods removed the need for close approaches, reducing the likelihood of disturbing the focal animal. Average swimming speed was calculated from the total path length between shark locations measured at approximately one minute intervals. These average speeds varied from 0.49 to 0.73 ms−1 for tracks of between 30 and 170 minutes' duration. Body length measurements ranged between 2.35 and 6.43 m. For ten sharks where body length and swimming speed were measured there was a significant correlation between body length (L) and swimming speed (V) expressed as V = 0.36L033.

Keywords

basking sharkphoto-grammetric techniquessize estimation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 361 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Denardo, C., Dougherty, M., Hastie, G., Leaper, R., Wilson, B. and Thompson, P.M. (2001) A new technique to measure spatial relationships within groups of free-ranging coastal cetaceans. Journal of Applied Ecology 38, 888–895.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairfax, D. (1998) The basking shark in Scotland. Natural history, fishery and conservation. East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, J.C.D. (1990) A simple photographic technique for measuring the length of whales from boats at sea. Report of the International Whaling Commission 40, 581–588.Google Scholar
Gordon, J.C.D. (2001) Measuring the range to animals at sea from boats using photographic and video images. Journal of Applied Ecology 38, 879–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leaper, R. and Gordon, J. (2001) Application of photogrammetric methods for locating and tracking cetacean movements at sea. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 2, 131–141.Google Scholar
Matthews, L.H. and Parker, H.W. (1950) Notes on the anatomy and biology of the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus (Gunner)). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 120, 535–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, G. (1952) Harpoon at a venture. London: Rupert Hart-Davis.Google Scholar
Sims, D.W., Fox, A.M. and Merrett, D.A. (1997) Basking shark occurrence off south-west England in relation to zooplankton abundance. Journal of Fish Biology 51, 436–440.Google Scholar
Sims, D.W. and Quayle, V.A. (1998) Selective foraging behaviour of basking sharks on zooplankton in a small-scale front. Nature 393, 460–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sims, D.W. (1999) Threshold foraging behaviour of basking sharks on zooplankton: life on an energetic knife edge? Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B 266, 1437–1443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sims, D.W. (2000) Filter-feeding and cruising swimming speeds of basking sharks compared with optimal models: they filter-feed slower than predicted for their size. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 249, 65–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Videler, J.J. (1993) Fish swimming. London: Chapman and Hall, pp. 288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weihs, D. and Webb, P.W. (1983) Optimization of locomotion. In Webb, P.W. and Weihs, D. (eds) Fish biomechanics. New York: Praeger, pp. 339–371.Google Scholar