White, William T., Appleyard, Sharon A., Sabub, Benthly, Kyne, Peter M., Harris, Mark, Lis, Rickson, Baje, Leontine, Usu, Thomas, Smart, Jonathan J., Corrigan, Shannon, Yang, Lei, and Naylor, Gavin J.P. (2015) Rediscovery of the threatened river sharks, Glyphis garricki and G. glyphis, in Papua New Guinea. PLoS ONE, 10. e0140075. pp. 1-15.

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Abstract

Recent surveys of the shark and ray catches of artisanal fishers in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) resulted in the rediscovery of the threatened river sharks, Glyphis garricki and Glyphis glyphis. These represent the first records of both species in PNG since the 1960s and 1970s and highlight the lack of studies of shark biodiversity in PNG. Two individuals of G. garricki and three individuals of G. glyphis were recorded from coastal marine waters of the Daru region of PNG in October and November 2014. The two G. garricki specimens were small individuals estimated to be 100–105 cm and ~113 cm total length (TL). The three G. glyphis specimens were all mature, one a pregnant female and two adult males. These are the first adults of G. glyphis recorded to date providing a more accurate maximum size for this species, i.e. ~260 cm TL. A single pup which was released from the pregnant female G. glyphis, was estimated to be ~65 cm TL. Anecdotal information from the fishers of pregnant females of G. glyphis containing 6 or 7 pups provides the first estimate of litter size for this species. The jaws of the pregnant female G. glyphis were retained and a detailed description of the dentition is provided, since adult dentition has not been previously documented for this species. Genetic analyses confirmed the two species cluster well within samples from these species collected in northern Australia.

Item ID:	44382
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1932-6203
Additional Information:	© 2015 White et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Funders:	Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), National Environmental Research Program, National Science Foundation (NSF)
Projects and Grants:	ACIAR project FIS/2012/102, NSF DEB-01132229
Date Deposited:	14 Jun 2016 23:34
FoR Codes:	06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0608 Zoology > 060809 Vertebrate Biology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960802 Coastal and Estuarine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 100%
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