Vol. 59, 2020

(update: 2020.09.10; 10.29)
 

Accessing Multiple Paternity in the Shortfin Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus)

Shang Yin Vanson Liu^1,*, Wen-Pei Tsai², Meng Shan Lee³, and Hsiu-Wen Chien⁴

¹Department of Marin Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University, No.70 Lien-hai Rd., Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan. *Correspondence: E-mail: oceandiver6426@gmail.com (Liu). Tel: +866-75252000#5024
²Department of Fisheries Production and Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 80778, Taiwan. E-mail: wptsai@nkust.edu.tw (Tsai)
³Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 80778, Taiwan. E-mail: mlee@nkust.edu.tw (Lee)
⁴Department of Chemical and Material Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 80778, Taiwan. E-mail: hsiu-wen.chien@nkust.edu.tw (Chien)

Received 10 March 2020 / Accepted 16 August 2020
Communicated by Hin-Kiu Mok

Multiple paternity has been demonstrated in a variety of sharks with different reproductive modes (i.e., viviparous, ovoviviparous, adelphophagy, oviparous), although the number of sires per litter varies considerably among species. To date, such analyses have focused mainly on coastal and nearshore shark species due to the difficulty in sampling oceanic sharks. In the present study, we observed multiple paternity in the oceanic shark Isurus oxyrinchus from seven polymorphic microsatellite loci and three litters collected from Nanfangao Fishing Port. Paternity tests showed that an average of 4.6 sires were assigned to each litter of I. oxyrinchus using COLONY software, and that the average number of sires dropped to 2.5 when using GERUD. These findings suggest that multiple paternity could be a common  reproductive strategy used by the shortfin mako shark, and that this mating system should be integrated into a demographic model to make more accurate population projections and risk analyses in the future.

Key words: Microsatellite, Multiple-paternity, Oceanic shark, Mating system, Shortfin mako shark.

Citation: Liu SYV, Tsai WP, Lee MS, Chien HW. 2020. Accessing multiple paternity in the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus). Zool Stud 59:49. doi:10.6620/ZS.2020.59-49.

Supplementary Materials: Table S1