How to Kill Another Shark: A First Inside Look at a Potential Hunting Strategy of the Galapagos Shark
Erich K. Ritter1, 2, *, Alberto Munoz3
1 Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of West Florida, 11000 University Parkway, Bldg. 4, Pensacola, Florida 32514, USA
2 Shark Research Institute, Global Shark Attack File, P.O. Box 40 Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
3 Shark School Associate, 5970 Osprey Place, Pensacola, FL 32504, USA
Abstract
Background:
Close-up videos of sharks foraging on other live sharks are rare, especially when it comes to footage of the entire duration of an event.
Objective:
Our goal was to present an in-depth analysis involving a Galapagos shark, Carcharhinus galapagensis, foraging on a whitetip reef shark, Triaenodon obesus.
Method:
A frame by frame video examination was used to highlight the different aspects of this bout.
Results:
Several behavioral characteristics, including the somewhat cryptic approach, the extensive shaking once the Galapagos shark had the whitetip reef shark between its jaws, and devouring tail-first, stand out in this event.
Conclusion:
The entire act appeared very smooth, indicating that this bout, or at least parts thereof, may represent a common hunting strategy for Galapagos sharks.
Keywords: Behavior, Galapagos shark, Hunting strategy, Selachivorous, Whitetip reef shark, Videos.
Article Information
Article History:
Received Date: 11/7/2018
Revision Received Date: 30/9/2018
Acceptance Date: 1/10/2018
Electronic publication date: 30/11/2018
Collection year: 2018
© 2018 Ritter and Munoz.
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway, Bldg. 4 Pensacola, Florida 32514, USA; E-mail: eritter@uwf.edu
Open Peer Review Details |
Manuscript submitted on 11-7-2018 |
Original Manuscript |
How to Kill Another Shark: A First Inside Look at a Potential Hunting Strategy of the Galapagos Shark |