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MEPS
Marine Ecology Progress Series

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MEPS 532:177-183 (2015)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11327

DNA evidence of the consumption of short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis by the shortfin mako shark Isurus oxyrinchus

Sebastián Biton Porsmoguer1,*, Daniela Banaru1, Charles F. Boudouresque1, Ivan Dekeyser1, Amélia Viricel3, Manuel Merchán2

1Aix-Marseille University and Université du Sud Toulon-Var, UMR 110, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), Campus de Luminy, Case 901, 13288 Marseille cedex 9, France
2Asociación Chelonia, C/Aristóteles, 3, 28027 Madrid, Spain
3Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS, Université de La Rochelle, 2 rue Olympe de Gouges, 17042 La Rochelle, France
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Stomachs of shortfin mako sharks Isurus oxyrinchus caught in the northeastern Atlantic by Iberian longliners were analyzed. A number of juveniles, 6 out of 96 individuals with non-empty stomachs, had consumed marine mammals. The remains (skin, fat, vertebrae and flesh with the dorsal fin) were not identifiable at species level by non-genetic methods. Portions of the mitochondrial DNA control region and of the gene coding for cytochrome b were therefore sequenced. Both the short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis and possibly the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba were identified. Shortfin makos are able to consume marine mammals almost as large as themselves. Well-preserved D. delphis were juveniles.


KEY WORDS: Shortfin mako · Predator · Short-beaked common dolphin · DNA analysis


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Cite this article as: Biton Porsmoguer S, Bănaru D, Boudouresque CF, Dekeyser I, Viricel A, Merchán M (2015) DNA evidence of the consumption of short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis by the shortfin mako shark Isurus oxyrinchus. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 532:177-183. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11327

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