title: Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna.
abstract: What are the greatest sizes that the largest marine megafauna obtain? This is a simple question with a difficult and complex answer. Many of the largest-sized species occur in the world's oceans. For many of these, rarity, remoteness, and quite simply the logistics of measuring these giants has made obtaining accurate size measurements difficult. Inaccurate reports of maximum sizes run rampant through the scientific literature and popular media. Moreover, how intraspecific variation in the body sizes of these animals relates to sex, population structure, the environment, and interactions with humans remains underappreciated. Here, we review and analyze body size for 25 ocean giants ranging across the animal kingdom. For each taxon we document body size for the largest known marine species of several clades. We also analyze intraspecific variation and identify the largest known individuals for each species. Where data allows, we analyze spatial and temporal intraspecific size variation. We also provide allometric scaling equations between different size measurements as resources to other researchers. In some cases, the lack of data prevents us from fully examining these topics and instead we specifically highlight these deficiencies and the barriers that exist for data collection. Overall, we found considerable variability in intraspecific size distributions from strongly left- to strongly right-skewed. We provide several allometric equations that allow for estimation of total lengths and weights from more easily obtained measurements. In several cases, we also quantify considerable geographic variation and decreases in size likely attributed to humans.
authors: National Evolutionary Synthesis Center , Durham, NC , USA ; Department of Biology, Duke University , Durham, NC , USA.
authors: Craig R
authors: CR
authors: McClain
authors: Department of Biology, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, NM , USA.
authors: Meghan A
authors: MA
authors: Balk
authors: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, LA , USA.
authors: Mark C
authors: MC
authors: Benfield
authors: School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, University of Washington , Seattle, WA , USA.
authors: Trevor A
authors: TA
authors: Branch
authors: Department of Biology, Duke University , Durham, NC , USA.
authors: Catherine
authors: C
authors: Chen
authors: Natural History Section, Royal British Columbia Museum , Victoria, BC , Canada.
authors: James
authors: J
authors: Cosgrove
authors: Georgia Aquarium , Atlanta, GA , USA.
authors: Alistair D M
authors: AD
authors: Dove
authors: Department of Biology, Duke University , Durham, NC , USA.
authors: Leo
authors: L
authors: Gaskins
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University , Providence, RI , USA.
authors: Rebecca R
authors: RR
authors: Helm
authors: Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History , Santa Barbara, CA , USA.
authors: Frederick G
authors: FG
authors: Hochberg
authors: Department of Biology, Duke University , Durham, NC , USA.
authors: Frank B
authors: FB
authors: Lee
authors: Marine Megafauna Foundation , Truckee, CA , USA.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Marshall
authors: Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington , Wilmington, NC , USA.
authors: Steven E
authors: SE
authors: McMurray
authors: Department of Biology, Duke University , Durham, NC , USA.
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Schanche
authors: Department of Biology, Duke University , Durham, NC , USA.
authors: Shane N
authors: SN
authors: Stone
authors: Blackbeard Biologic: Science and Environmental Advisors , Vallejo, CA , USA.
authors: Andrew D
authors: AD
authors: Thaler
keywords: Allometry; Body size; Cline; Intraspecific variation; Megafauna
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