Where Have You Been Hiding? Re-Emergence of Squatina oculata in the Sea of Marmara, with a Review of Captures in Turkish Seas

Year 2024, Volume: 39 Issue: 3, 200 - 205, 01.08.2024

Hakan Kabasakal , Uğur Uzer , F. Saadet Karakulak

https://doi.org/10.26650/ASE20241406066

Abstract

On February 27, 2018, a female smoothback angelshark, Squatina oculata, was incidentally captured in a gill-net fishery off the Mudanya coast (southeastern Sea of Marmara). An opportunistic photographic record confirmed the emergence of S. oculata in the Sea of Marmara, where its status in the area is considered questionable because of its absence for many years in the region. The current opportunistic records are valuable data sources, which can provide complementary information to fill the knowledge gaps in the life histories of rare, rarely caught, or endangered sharks and rays.

Keywords

Squatina oculata, Turkish Sea, emergence, endangered, opportunistic

Ethical Statement

Since no experimental animal was used in the submitted study, approval of ethics committee is not required

Supporting Institution

This study received no financial support from any funding source

Project Number

Not a part of a previous or an ongoing project

Thanks

Authors thank to journalists of mainstream media and social media post owners, providing coincise reporting on the capture of endangered shark species that allow us monitoring the bycatch of such species in commercial fisheries

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