ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Rigby, Cassandra Louise (2015) Life history of deepwater chondrichthyans. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46298/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46298/ LIFE HISTORIES OF DEEPWATER CHONDRICHTHYANS Thesis submitted by Cassandra Louise Rigby BSc Biological Oceanography (University of New South Wales) MSc Applied Science (University of Technology) For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture & College of Marine and Environmental Sciences James Cook University Townsville, Australia September 2015 CONTRIBUTIONS OF OTHERS TO THIS THESIS Supervision Professor Colin Simpfendorfer- Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture & College of Marine and Environmental Sciences. Dr William White- CSIRO, Australian National Fish Collection, Hobart, Australia. Dr Andrew Tobin - Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture & College of Marine and Environmental Sciences. Financial Support Australian Postgraduate Award College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University Oceania Chondrichthyan Society & Passions of Paradise Student Research Award University of Adelaide & Australian Biological Resources Study, 2nd National Training Postgraduate Workshop in Systematics - full attendance support. Statistical, analytical and editorial support Professor Colin Simpfendorfer, Dr Carole Wright, Dr Rhonda Jones, Jonathan Smart, Ross Daley, Dr Will White, Brett Wedding, Steve Grauf, Dr Sarah Irvine, Dr Michelle Treloar, Dr Allen Andrews, Dr Pete Kyne. Data Ken Graham (Australian Museum) and Ross Daley (CSIRO) provided S. montalbani samples and data collected during a CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship and Fisheries Research Development Corporation funded survey. Fisheries Queensland Observers (Department of Agriculture and Fisheries) donated deepwater chondrichthyans samples from the Observer Program. Dr Alastair Harry provided aged vertebrae of S. mokarran and C. sorrah Cassandra Peters did the independent age reads of four species. Dr Gavin Naylor, Dr Jessica Boomer, Dr Shannon Corrigan, Dr Lei Yang and Elisabeth Rochel, College of Charleston did genetic analyses for species identification as part of a National Science Foundation grant (Jaws and Backbone: Chondrichthyan Phylogeny and a Spine for the Vertebrae Tree of Life; DEB-01132229). i Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS 2015) water quality data. IMOS is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and the Super Science Initiative. Administrative and IT support Glen Connolly, Beth Moore, Eva King, Rebecca Steele, Debbie Berry, Andrew Gray-Spence. Deepwater chondrichthyan images Ken Hoppen©www.creativekeyringsandgifts.com.au (also used in presentations). Ethics and approvals All research activities were conducted under Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Permit G10/33603.1 and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Permits 55105 &147714. The research presented and reported in this thesis was conducted in compliance with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australian Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes, 7th Edition, 2004 and the Qld Animal Care and Protection Act, 2001. The proposed research study received animal ethics approval from the JCU Animal Ethics Committee Approval Number A1566. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This PhD has been a challenging and rewarding experience and there are many people I need to thank for their support, encouragement and interest in this research. Firstly, special thanks to my main supervisor, Colin Simpfendorfer for his wise counsel and untiring generosity in sharing his knowledge and time with me. I also greatly appreciate all Will White’s time, willingness to help and thoughtful supervision. Obtaining the samples was the first challenge of this PhD and I am grateful to Tony Courtney for introducing and recommending me to the commercial fisher Steve Murphy. I thank Steve for being supportive of research and allowing me on board his company’s vessels; without his and the fishers’ co-operation the samples could not have been collected. I would like to thank all the incredibly helpful deepwater chondrichthyan scientists that taught and guided me and freely shared their expertise and insights on the lives of dogfish, skates and other deepwater marvels, especially Ross Daley, Ken Graham, Pete Kyne, Sarah Irvine, Michelle Hulls, Matias Braccini, Malcolm Francis, Bastien Rochowski and Chip Cotton. Their advice, discussions and interest in this research was invaluable. So too were the thoughts and encouragement on deepwater shark ageing from Steve Campana, Greg Cailliet, Allen Andrews and Michelle Passerotti for which I thank them. I am very grateful to Brett Wedding and Steve Grauf for patiently teaching me the workings of near infrared spectroscopy. My thanks also to those at Fisheries Queensland that helped me with the art of ageing, particularly to Cassandra Peters for her instruction and beyond that her patience, endless support and friendship. The support of everyone at the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture was warmly felt and greatly appreciated. Specifically I would like to thank Alastair Harry, Andrew Chin, Daniela Waltrick, Fernanda de Faria, Sam Munroe and Jonathan Smart and most of all, Leanne Currey for always being there with enthusiasm when it was needed. I also thank other fellow graduate students for sharing the PhD highs and lows. Some James Cook University staff were particularly helpful and I thank Rob Beaman for introducing me to ArcGIS and Rhonda Jones and Carole Wright for their time and ability to teach statistics using plain English. I would like to thank my friends for their constant understanding and moral support, especially Gay and Claire who never questioned my antisocial, slightly obsessive work ethic. Finally, I thank Mick most of all for his absolutely unwavering patience, support, love and tolerance; without him, this PhD would not have been possible. iii PUBLICATIONS ARISING FROM THIS THESIS Chapter 2: Rigby, C., Simpfendorfer, C.A. (2015) Patterns in life history traits of deepwater chondrichthyans. Deep-Sea Research. II 115, 30-40. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.09.004 Chapter 3: Rigby. C.L., White. W.T., Simpfendorfer, C. A. (In review) Deepwater chondrichthyans of the southern Great Barrier Reef. PLOS ONE. Chapter 4: Rigby. C.L., White. W.T., Simpfendorfer (In review) Life history of two deepwater elasmobranchs endemic to the Great Barrier Reef: Argus skate and Eastern spotted gummy shark. Journal of Fish Biology. Chapter 5: Comparison of life histories of two deepwater sharks from eastern Australia: the piked spurdog and the Philippine spurdog. Marine and Freshwater Research. doi:10.1071/MF15176 Chapter 6: Rigby, C.L., Wedding, B.B., Grauf, S., Simpfendorfer, C.A. (2015) A novel method for age estimation using near infrared spectroscopy. Marine and Freshwater Research. doi: 10.1071/MF15104 Chapter 7: Rigby, C.L., Wedding, B.B., Grauf, S., and Simpfendorfer, C.A. (2014) The utility of near infrared spectroscopy for age estimation of deepwater sharks. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 94, 184-194. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr.2014.09.004 iv CONFERENCE AND MEETING PRESENTATIONS Rigby. C.L. (2011) Age, growth and reproduction of deepwater sharks and rays. Second National Postgraduate Systematics Workshop. University of Adelaide, Australia. Rigby, C.L. and Simpfendorfer, C.A. (2012) Habitat associations of deepwater chondrichthyan life history traits. Joint Australian Society of Fish Biology & Oceania Chondrichthyan Society Conference, Adelaide, Australia. OCS Plenary Speaker. Rigby, C.L. and Simpfendorfer, C.A. (2012) Habitat associations of deepwater chondrichthyan life history traits. Deepwater Chondrichthyans Symposium at 7th World Congress of Herpetology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Rigby, C.L., Wedding, B.B, Grauf, S, and Simpfendorfer, C.A. (2014) Novel method for ageing sharks using near infrared spectroscopy. Sharks International, Durban, South Africa. Rigby, C.L. and Simpfendorfer, C.A. (2015) Ageing deepwater sharks: near infrared spectroscopy. Joint Oceania Chondrichthyan Society & New Zealand Marine Sciences Society Conference, Auckland, New Zealand. Awarded Oceania Chondrichthyan Society Best Student Oral Presentation. Daley, R.K., Rigby, C.L. and Pethybridge, H. (2014) Advances in deep-sea shark research. Oral Presentation. Portuguese Institute of Ocean and Atmosphere (IPMA), Lisbon, Portugal. v ABSTRACT As fisheries move into deeper waters the ability of deepwater chondrichthyans to sustain fishing is relatively unknown, although the limited information to date suggests most are inherently vulnerable to exploitation. Knowledge of deepwater chondrichthyans life history traits is required to enable effective management of deepwater chondrichthyans, as life history traits are important indicators of the productivity of species and consequently, species abilities to tolerate fishing pressure. This dissertation aimed to further knowledge of the life histories