A study utilizing forensic genetic analysis revealed that the waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) could be crucial to the survival of the endangered sicklefin lemon shark across the Indo-Pacific region, National Sun Yet-sen University said yesterday.
Liu Shang-yin (劉商隱), professor of marine resources and biotechnology, and his collaborators discovered that sicklefin sharks each year migrate to the waters around the atoll to reproduce, the university said in a statement.
That makes the waters near the Pratas Islands the only recorded natal grounds for the sharks deemed endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it said.
Photo courtesy of National Sun Yet-sen University
Negaprion is a genus of requiem sharks that contains the two extant species of lemon sharks: the lemon shark (N. brevirostris) of the Americas and the sicklefin lemon shark (N. acutidens) of the Indo-Pacific region, the university said.
Many universities and government agencies have investigated the genetic diversity of sicklefin lemon shark out of concerns that inbreeding could present an extinction-level threat to the species, Liu was cited as saying.
Researchers tagged, sampled and then released juvenile sharks living in the area, then employed microsatellite DNA analysis to establish their familial relationship from 2013 to 2017, Liu said.
The study showed a robust level of genetic diversity in the sharks despite diminished numbers, as most juveniles were the offspring of distant relatives from two groups, he said.
Genetic patterns also suggest that the use of the breeding ground was not territorial and that female sharks had come from all over the South China Sea to lay eggs in the atoll’s environs, Liu said.
The data indicate sicklefin lemon sharks lay clutches of 14 to 18 eggs and that only one of the clutch is likely to survive to adulthood, he said.
The findings imply the government’s management of the seas surrounding the Pratas Islands has been effective and proposals to develop tourism or change fishery regulations must be cautiously assessed lest harm befall the vital habitat, he added.
The study was published in Nature Scientific Reports early last year.
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