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Effect of M‐Type Dart Tags on Field Growth of Juvenile Lemon Sharks
Author(s) -
Manire Charles A.,
Gruber Samuel H.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1991)120<0776:eomdto>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - juvenile , dart , biology , fishery , bay , fish <actinopterygii> , zoology , ecology , geography , archaeology , computer science , programming language
Previous experience with M‐type dart tags suggested that their implantation causes trauma and retards growth of small sharks. To test this hypothesis, we marked a group of 76 juvenile lemon sharks Negraprion brevirostris of a precaudal length of less than 80 cm with tiny (2 mm × 11 mm), passive integrated transponder (PIT) microtags, implanted intramuscularly. A second group of 563 lemon sharks of the same size range was marked with M‐type dart tags, and both groups were released around Big Pine Key in Florida Bay. Growth of 10 recaptured fish with the M‐type tag averaged 8.6 ± 2.34 (SD) cm/year, compared with an average of 17.1 ± 4.25 cm/ year for 10 recaptured fish with PIT tags. Growth of the PIT‐tagged group was significantly greater ( P < 0.001) than that of the dart‐tagged group (one‐way ANOVA). We recommend that biologists refrain from marking young or small sharks with M‐type dart tags, especially for age and growth studies.