Behavioural patterns of a Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) feeding aggregation at a blue whale carcass in Prony Bay, New Caledonia

Tiger Sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, are large top-level predators usually solitary as adults. Observation of their scavenging activity on the carcass of a dead whale offered a rare opportunity for better understanding the pattern of intra-specific behaviour within the aggregations of these large predat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine and freshwater behaviour and physiology 2013, Vol.46 (1), p.1-20
Main Authors: Clua, Eric, Chauvet, Claude, Read, Tyffen, Werry, Jonathan M, Lee, Shing Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adults
aggression
Balaenoptera musculus
biting
Carcharhinus
Carcharhinus leucas
Cetacea
death
DNA fingerprinting
feeding frenzy
females
FINBASE
Freshwater
Galeocerdo cuvier
intra-specific dominance
Marine
photo-identification
predators
scavenging behaviour
sharks
Tiger Shark
whales
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Summary:Tiger Sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, are large top-level predators usually solitary as adults. Observation of their scavenging activity on the carcass of a dead whale offered a rare opportunity for better understanding the pattern of intra-specific behaviour within the aggregations of these large predators. In January 2002, the stranding, subsequent death and consumption of a 17.4 m total length (TL) blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, was observed and filmed in Prony Bay, southern New Caledonia. After three weeks of confinement in the bay, the cetacean was killed by adult bullsharks Carcharhinus leucas. The first adult Tiger Shark was subsequently observed around the carcass after 36 h. The fat slicks from the carcass attracted further Tiger Sharks which arrived after an additional 24 h. The use of photo-identification on video footage collected during four observation sessions over an eight-day period identified 46 individual Tiger Sharks (primarily adult females between 3.3 and 4 m TL) participating in the feeding aggregation. Only four animals were identified in two seperate observation sessions (over two consecutive days), suggesting a short-term residency pattern of several hours (
ISSN:1029-0362
1023-6244
1029-0362
DOI:10.1080/10236244.2013.773127