title: A minimally invasive technique to assess several life-history characteristics of the endangered great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran.
abstract: A dorsal-fin photo-identification technique paired with a non-invasive parallel laser photogrammetry technique was used to non-invasively identify individual Sphyrna mokarran over time. Based on the data collected over a duration of 59 days, 16 different S. mokarran (mean ± S.D. pre-caudal length: 220·82 ± 13·66 cm; mean ± S.D. cephalofoil width: 71·38 ± 7·94 cm) were identified using dorsal-fin photo-identification, with a mean ± S.D. shark re-sighting frequency of 4·05 ± 3·06 at-sea days. The results illustrate a high S. mokarran sighting rate and therefore, the utilization of parallel laser photogrammetry and dorsal-fin photo-identification may be a plausible multi-year approach to aid in non-invasively determining the growth rate and inter-annual site fidelity of these animals.
authors.affiliation: O'Seas Conservation Foundation, Inc., Yonkers, NY, 10701, U.S.A.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.affiliation: Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leurs
mesh_terms: D058500:Animal Fins / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000823:Animal Identification Systems / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D000818:Animals; D056727:Endangered Species; D005260:Female; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D010780:Photogrammetry; D012754:Sharks / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development*
keywords: Sphyrnidae; life-history characteristics; non-invasive measurements