Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks: Fishes Checklist

Ryan Murray1, Segundo Conales Jr.2, Gonzalo Araujo1, Jessica Labaja1, Sally J. Snow1, Simon J. Pierce3, Angelique Songco2, Alessandro Ponzo1, Chandra Earl4, Chandra Earl5

1 Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines, ; 2 Tubbataha Management Office, ; 3 Marine Megafauna Foundation, ; 4 UNESCO, ; 5 UNESCO, 

Corresponding author(s): Ryan MurraySegundo Conales Jr.Gonzalo AraujoJessica LabajaSally J. SnowSimon J. PierceAngelique SongcoAlessandro Ponzo, Chandra Earl (c.earl@unesco.org)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Murray R, Conales Jr. S, Araujo G, Labaja J, Snow S J, Pierce S J, Songco A, Ponzo A, Earl C (2023). Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks: Fishes Checklist. Version 2.0. OBIS Secretariat. Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.25607/w4dalx https://doi.org/10.25607/w4dalx

Abstract

A total of 113 BRUV surveys were completed throughout 2015 and 2016. The BRUV surveys documented a CMaxN of 237 elasmobranchs from 14 species and one unidentified Carcharhinid. The overall CPUE from both years was 2.09 (Table 1), with at least one elasmobranch encounter occurring in 92.03% (n = 104) of surveys. Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, the most abundant species, with a CMaxN of 103, occurred in 54.87% of surveys, recording an overall CPUE of 0.91 (x = 0.91 +- 1.64 SD). Triaenodon obesus were also abundant, with a CMaxN of 98, and were present in 71.68% of surveys with an overall CPUE of 0.87 (x = 0.87 +- 0.84 SD). Other shark species observed during two years of sampling were, in order of decreasing CMaxN, tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier (CMaxN = 8), blacktip reef shark Carcharhinus melanopterus (8), scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini (7), tawny nurse shark Nebrius ferrugineus (2), thresher shark Alopias sp. (2), silky shark Carcharhinus falciformis (1), silvertip shark Carcharhinus albimarginatus (1), and whale shark Rhincodon typus (1). Batoid species observed were spotted eagle ray Aetobatus spp. (2), round ribbontail ray Taeinurops meyeni (1), bluespotted ribbontail ray Taeniura lymma (1), and a manta ray Mobula sp. (1). There was no significant difference between years in CPUE of C. amblyrhynchos in shallow habitats (PERMANOVA, p = 0.297, Pseudo-F = 1.139) and deep habitats (p = 0.48, Pseudo-F = 0.607). Similarly, no significant difference in the abundance of T. obesus; abundance was evident between years in shallow (p = 0.19, Pseudo-F = 2.122) and deep habitats (p = 0.171, Pesudo-F 2.28).

Keywords: Occurrence

General description

Purpose: These data were made accessible through UNESCO's eDNA Expeditions project to mobilize available marine species and occurrence datasets from World Heritage Sites.
Additional information: marine, harvested by iOBIS

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.obis.org/secretariat/resource?r=tubbataha-murray-2019

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Fishes
Taxonomic ranks
Unranked: Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park
Coordinates: 8°41'33''N and 9°6'5.04''N Latitude; 119°45'46.08''E and 120°3'20.16''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: March 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016

Methods

Method step description: See Github <a href="https://github.com/iobis/mwhs-data-mobilization">Project</a> and <a href="https://iobis.github.io/mwhs-data-mobilization/notebooks/tubbataha_reefs_natural_park/Murray_et_al_2019"> R Notebook</a> for dataset construction methods

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks: Fishes Checklist
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.obis.org/secretariat/archive.do?r=tubbataha-murray-2019
Publication date of data: 2023-09-13
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-09-13
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Murray, Ryan & Conales, Segundo & Araujo, Gonzalo & Labaja, Jessica & Snow, Sally & Pierce, Simon & Songco, Angelique & Ponzo, Alessandro. (2018). Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: First comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity. 12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2018.09.009