First observation of mating behavior in three species of pelagic myliobatiform rays in the wild

Autor: Manuela Alves Nobre Sales, Matthew J. Ajemian, Andy J. Danylchuk, Michael McCallister, John W. Mandelman, Ramón Bonfil
Přispěvatelé: Florida Atlantic Univ, New England Aquarium, Oceanos Vivientes AC, Univ Massachusetts, Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Web of Science
Repositório Institucional da UNESP
Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
instacron:UNESP
ISSN: 1573-5133
0378-1909
DOI: 10.1007/s10641-019-00943-x
Popis: Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-10T19:45:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-01-03 Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Inter-ministerial Secretariat for Marine Resources (SECIRM) UFRPE Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation Action Fund Oceanos Vivientes A.C. Information on elasmobranch mating behavior is limited. For batoids, observations of mating behavior in the wild are available only for a few species. We present video documentation of new cases of mating behavior for three species of myliobatiform rays. On July 20, 2013, a group of six cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus) were observed mating in shallow coastal waters off New Jersey. On August 19, 2014, two whitespotted eagle rays (Aetobatus narinari) were observed mating in Harrington Sound, Bermuda. In both cases, all stages of the mating sequence described in the literature were observed: 1) close following, 2) pre-copulatory biting, 3) copulation/insertion, 4) resting, and 5) separation. This is consistent with observations of mating behavior for whitespotted eagle rays and Javanese cownose rays (Rhinoptera javanica) in captivity. This is the first time a complete mating sequence has been documented in the wild for either species. Additionally, on May 18, 2015, a group of four bentfin devil rays (Mobula thurstoni) were observed engaging in pre-mating behaviors at the Archipelago of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Brazil and is the first documented account of mating behavior for this species. In all three cases, we noted that the female was considerably darker in color than the males, which may be evidence of a visual pre-copulation cue, as seen in other marine fishes. The similarity of the behaviors presented here and those observed in other species (e.g., M. birostris, Hypanus americanus, and Taeniurops meyeni) suggests mating behavior may be highly conserved among batoids. Florida Atlantic Univ, Harbor Branch Oceanog Inst, Ft Pierce, FL 34946 USA New England Aquarium, Anderson Cabot Ctr Ocean Life, Cent Wharf, Boston, MA 02110 USA Oceanos Vivientes AC, Cerrada Monserrat 9, Mexico City 04380, DF, Mexico Univ Massachusetts, Dept Environm Conservat, 160 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA 01003 USA Univ Estadual Paulista Julio Mesquita, Inst Biociencias, Campus Litoral Paulista, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista Julio Mesquita, Inst Biociencias, Campus Litoral Paulista, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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