Gulf and Caribbean Research Volume 29 Issue 1 2018 Clarifying the Range of the Endangered Largetooth Sawfish in the United States Jason C. Seitz ANAMAR Environmental Consulting, Inc., [email protected] John D. Waters Aquatic Research & Conservation Society, Inc., [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/gcr Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, and the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Seitz, J. C. and J. D. Waters. 2018. Clarifying the Range of the Endangered Largetooth Sawfish in the United States. Gulf and Caribbean Research 29 (1): 15-22. Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/gcr/vol29/iss1/5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18785/gcr.2901.05 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Gulf and Caribbean Research by an authorized editor of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VOLUME 25 VOLUME GULF AND CARIBBEAN Volume 25 RESEARCH March 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS GULF AND CARIBBEAN SAND BOTTOM MICROALGAL PRODUCTION AND BENTHIC NUTRIENT FLUXES ON THE NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO NEARSHORE SHELF RESEARCH Jeffrey G. Allison, M. E. Wagner, M. McAllister, A. K. J. Ren, and R. A. Snyder....................................................................................1—8 WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT SPECIES RICHNESS AND DISTRIBUTION ON THE OUTER—SHELF SOUTH TEXAS BANKS? Harriet L. Nash, Sharon J. Furiness, and John W. Tunnell, Jr. ......................................................................................................... 9—18 Volume 29 ASSESSMENT OF SEAGRASS FLORAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE FROM TWO CARIBBEAN MARINE PROTECTED 2018 AREAS ISSN: 2572-1410 Paul A. X. Bologna and Anthony J. Suleski ............................................................................................................................................. 19—27 SPATIAL AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF RED DRUM CAUGHT AND RELEASED IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA, AND FAC- TORS ASSOCIATED WITH POST—RELEASE HOOKING MORTALITY Kerry E. Flaherty, Brent L. Winner, Julie L. Vecchio, and Theodore S. Switzer....................................................................................29—41 CHARACTERIZATION OF ICHTHYOPLANKTON IN THE NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO FROM SEAMAP PLANK- TON SURVEYS, 1982—1999 Joanne Lyczkowski—Shultz, David S. Hanisko, Kenneth J. Sulak, Ma gorzata Konieczna, and Pamela J. Bond ..................................43—98 ł GULF AND CARIBBEAN RE Short Communications DEPURATION OF MACONDA (MC—252) OIL FOUND IN HETEROTROPHIC SCLERACTINIAN CORALS (TUBASTREA COCCINEA AND TUBASTREA MICRANTHUS) ON OFFSHORE OIL/GAS PLATFORMS IN THE GULF Steve R. Kolian, Scott Porter, Paul W. Sammarco, and Edwin W. Cake, Jr........................................................................................99—103 EFFECTS OF CLOSURE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER GULF OUTLET ON SALTWATER INTRUSION AND BOTTOM WATER HYPOXIA IN LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN Michael A. Poirrier .............................................................................................................................................................................105—109 DISTRIBUTION AND LENGTH FREQUENCY OF INVASIVE LIONFISH (PTEROIS SP.) IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO OF MEXICO Alexander Q. Fogg, Eric R. Hoffmayer, William B. Driggers III, Matthew D. Campbell, Gilmore J. Pellegrin, and William Stein SEARCH ............................................................................................................................................................................................................111—115 NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF INVASIVE LIONFISH (PTEROIS SP.) FROM THE NORTHCENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO William Stein III, Nancy J. Brown—Peterson, James S. Franks, and Martin T. O’Connell ...............................................................117—120 RECORD BODY SIZE FOR THE RED LIONFISH, PTEROIS VOLITANS (SCORPAENIFORMES), IN THE SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO Alfonso Aguilar—Perera, Leidy Perera—Chan, and Luis Quijano—Puerto ...........................................................................................121—123 EFFECTS OF BLACK MANGROVE (AVICENNIA GERMINANS) EXPANSION ON SALTMARSH (SPARTINA ALTERNI- FLORA) BENTHIC COMMUNITIES OF THE SOUTH TEXAS COAST Jessica Lunt, Kimberly McGlaun, and Elizabeth M. Robinson..........................................................................................................125—129 TIME—ACTIVITY BUDGETS OF STOPLIGHT PARROTFISH (SCARIDAE: SPARISOMA VIRIDE) IN BELIZE: CLEANING INVITATION AND DIURNAL PATTERNS Wesley A. Dent and Gary R. Gaston .................................................................................................................................................131—135 FIRST RECORD OF A NURSE SHARK, GINGLYMOSTOMA CIRRATUM, WITHIN THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND Jill M. Hendon, Eric R. Hoffmayer, and William B. Driggers III......................................................................................................137—139 REVIEWERS ........................................................................................................................................................................................................141 INSTRUCTION TO AUTHORS ...............................................................................................................................................................142-143 Published by © 2013 The University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast Published by Research Laboratory. MARCH 2013 Printed in the United States of America ISSN: 1528—0470 703 East Beach Drive All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564 copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or 228.872.4200 • FAX: 228.872.4204 by any means without written permission from the publisher. Ocean Springs, Mississippi www.usm.edu/gcrl Gulf and Caribbean Research Vol 29, 15-22, 2018 Manuscript received, February 18, 2018; accepted, June 19, 2018 DOI: 10.18785/gcr.2901.05 CLARIFYING THE RANGE OF THE ENDANGERED LARGETOOTH SAWFISH IN THE UNITED STATES Jason C. Seitz1* and John D. Waters2 1ANAMAR Environmental Consulting, Inc., 2106 NW 67th Place, Suite 5, Gainesville, Florida 32653, USA; 2Aquatic Research & Conservation Society, Inc., 2915 Payne Avenue, Little Canada, Minnesota 55117, USA; *Corresponding author: [email protected] ABSTRACT: The United States population of the endangered Largetooth Sawfish (Pristis pristis) has a high probability of extinction. It is criti- cal to identify areas with valid historical records as these areas may be important to the recovery of the species. The U.S. range is reported to extend as far east as Florida based on one vouchered specimen and 3 historical records from this state. Three of these reports presume a local capture location despite a lack of locality data. The vouchered specimen was presumed captured in southern Florida, but evidence suggests otherwise. Dried specimens observed in Florida were most likely imported to Florida from the Indo—Pacific region, or from the Caribbean, for the marine curio trade. A vouchered rostrum, purportedly from Louisiana, lacks locality data and it cannot reliably be assigned to this state. We believe that the range of the Largetooth Sawfish in the U.S. never extended farther east than Texas, which was likely the northern limit of its range in the western Atlantic Ocean. Future conservation efforts should be directed to areas in Texas rather than states to the east where the species likely never occurred. KEY WORDS: Pristidae, Pristis pristis, conservation, endangered species, critical habitat INTRODUCTION Shark and ray populations in many areas of the world are Nearly all records of Largetooth Sawfish from the U.S. declining due to modern fishing practices and enhanced in‑ have been from the coast of Texas (Fernandez—Carvalho centives to target or retain these species, especially for the et al. 2013). Baughman (1943) stated that the species repro‑ fin industry (Camhi et al. 1998, Clarke et al. 2006, Lack duced in Texas waters based on captures of gravid females by and Sant 2009). Sawfishes (Pristidae) are at particular risk Texas shrimp trawlers. He considered Port Arthur, TX (on as their fins are among the most valuable (McDavitt 2005) the eastern border of Texas) to be the eastern extent of the and because sawfishes and other coastal sharks and rays are species’ range in the U.S. Similarly, Bigelow and Schroeder vulnerable to habitat alterations and pollution (Seitz and (1953), Walls (1975), and Thorson (1976) all considered the Poulakis 2006, Dulvy et al. 2008, Dulvy et al. 2014). Bycatch Texas—Louisiana border to be the eastern extent of its U.S. mortality in net fisheries was the major reason for the de‑ range. However, many other early authors considered Flori‑ cline in sawfishes worldwide (Stevens et al. 2000). Sawfishes da to be part of the range (e.g., Briggs 1958, Duarte—Bello were not part of a targeted fishery, except in the case of the 1959, Robins and Ray 1986), and this idea has been perpetu‑ historical Lake Nicaragua fishery (Thorson 1976, 1982), and ated by more recent regional fish guides (e.g., McEachran therefore did not appear in fishery statistics. As a result, the and Fechhelm 1998, McEachran and de Carvalho 2002, reduction in sawfish populations went largely unnoticed or Kells and Carpenter 2011). This opinion eventually became unaddressed by fisheries managers until recently.