Elasmobranchs observed in deepwaters (45-330m) at Isla del Coco National Park, Costa Rica (Eastern Tropical Pacific)
Jorge Cortés1*,2*, Astrid Sánchez-Jiménez1,3*, J. Alexander Rodríguez-Arrieta1,4*, Geovanna Quirós-Barrantes1,2, Paula C. González1 & Shmulik Blum5* *Dirección para correspondencia:
Abstract ]]>
Isla del Coco is an oceanic island 500km off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is a National Park and its marine fauna has been relatively well protected. The island is famous for its elasmobranch (sharks, rays and skates) sightings in shallow waters. Here we present a catalogue of the deepwater elasmobranchs observed with the DeepSee submersible. Five species of sharks, six species of skates and one ray have been observed between 45 and 330m depth. Triaenodon obesus, the white tip reef shark, was commonly observed between 80 and 301m, but only in the afternoons. Sphyrna lewini, the scalloped hammerhead shark, was observed as deep a 303m, but commonly between 45 and 90m, and close to the island. Odontaspis ferox, the smalltooth sand tiger shark, was observed between 82 and 316m. Echinorhinus cookei, the prickly shark, was observed between 91 and 320m. Rhincodon typus, the whale shark, was observed only close to the island, between 77 and 80m. Taeniura meyeni, the marbled ray, was observed only close to the island, between 45 and 90m. A Dasyatis sp., similar to the the diamond stingray, was observed only once close to the island at 60m; this is the first report of this genus at Isla del Coco National Park. Manta birostris, the giant manta, was only observed close to the island at 90m. Mobula tarapacana, the sicklefin devil ray, was observed between 60 and 326m, extending its maximum depth almost 10 times what has been reported. Aetobatus narinari, the spotted eagle ray, was observed only close to the island between 60 and 82m. Torpedo peruana, the Peruvian torpedo ray, was observed only once at 313m, and is the first record of this species from Isla del Coco National Park. Key words: Deepwater sharks and rays, Cocos Island, Costa Rica, Isla del Coco, marine biodiversity, submersible research. Resumen La Isla del Coco es una isla oceánica a 500km de la costa Pacífica de Costa Rica. Es un Parque Nacional donde la fauna marina ha estado relativamente bien protegida. La isla es famosa por los elasmobranquios (tiburones y rayas) en aguas poco profundas. Aquí presentamos un catálogo de elasmobranquios observados con el sumergible DeepSee. Cinco especies de tiburones y siete especies de rayas han sido observadas entre 45 y 330m de profundidad. Triaenodon obesus, tiburón punta blanca de arrecifes o tiburón cazón coralero, observado comúnmente entre 80 y 301m pero solo en las tardes. Sphyrna lewini, el tiburón martillo o cornuda común, registrado hasta 303m, pero comúnmente entre 45 y 90m, y cerca de la Isla del Coco. Odontaspis ferox, tiburón solrayo, visto entre 82 y 316m. Echinorhinus cookei, tiburón negro espinoso, avistado entre 91 y 320m. Rhincodon typus, tiburón ballena, observado solamente cerca de la isla, entre 77 y 80m. Taeniura meyeni, raya moteada, vista solamente cerca de la isla, entre 45 y 90m. Dasyatis sp., parecida a la raya látigo, registrada solamente una vez, cerca de la isla a 60m; este es el primer informe de esta especie en el Parque Nacional Isla del Coco. Manta birostris, manta gigante, observada únicamente cerca de la isla a 90m. Mobula tarapacana, manta cornuda o manta moruma, vista entre 60 y 326m, extendiendo su profundidad máxima casi 10 veces a lo informado en la literatura. Aetobatus narinari, chucho pintado o raya águila, observada solamente cerca de la isla entre 60 y 82m. Por último, Torpedo peruana, raya torpedo eléctrico o raya peruana, solamente vista una vez a 313m y es el primer informe de esta especie en el Parque Nacional Isla del Coco. Palabras clave: Tiburones y rayas de profundidad, Costa Rica, Isla del Coco, biodiversidad marina, investigación con sumergible
Isla del Coco (also known as Cocos Island) is the only point above sea-level of the Coco Volcanic Cordillera that originates in the Galápagos Hotspot in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (Alvarado 2009, Rojas & Alvarado 2012). It is part of the Isla del Coco National Park and located more than 500km from mainland Costa Rica (Cortés 2008). The 24km2 island is surrounded by an insular platform that deepens to around 180m, with an area of about 300km2, then drops to several thousand meters deep (Lizano 2001, 2012). This submerged platform consists of rocky outcrops and sandy bottoms (Cortés & Blum 2008). ]]>
The island has been explored down to 450m with the DeepSee submersible since 2006. Below 50m deep (the average depth of the thermocline) the environments and organisms are different than at surface (Cortés & Blum 2008). In this paper we present the sharks, skates and rays that have been photographed between 45 and 330m deep around Isla del Coco National Park. Images and species description and distribution (spatial and temporal) are presented. Material and Methods
Videos are taken with a high-definition digital camera mounted on the DeepSee submersible (Cortés & Blum 2008), at several localities around Isla del Coco National Park (Fig. 1). Videos were recorded on mini-DV tapes and then digitized to a .mov format. Image grabs of organisms, substrates and objects on the bottom were made in the laboratory using Imovie and FinalCut software. A total of 811 dives have been made, and 130 hours of the video have been recorded from 2006 to 2012. For this project 570 dives have been processed; of those, sharks, skates or rays were recorded and 397 video grabs were obtained from 87 dives. Several species were observed in only one dive, e.g. Torpedo peruana and a Dasyatis sp., while others were observed in numerous dives, such as Mobula tarpacana in 36 dives. The following was recorded for each image: dive number, dive site, date, time of day, and depth.
The fishes were identified using the following publications: Bussing and López (2005), Garrison (2005), Cortés and Blum (2008), Robertson and Allen (2008), McCosker and Rosenblatt 2010, and Long et al. (2011). The identifications together with all or some of the images were sent for corroboration to: Ginger Garrison, John E. McCosker, D. Ross Robertson, Eva Salas and Richard M. Starr. For previous reports of the species at Isla del Coco National Park, we used Bussing and López (2005, 2009), Garrison (2005), and Sibaja-Cordero (2008). Results and Discussion
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Five species of sharks and seven of rays have been observed in deepwaters at Isla del Coco National Park (Table 1). Images of the species are included together with a brief description of the species, its distribution, observations at Isla del Coco National Park (location, depth, date, time of day), previous reports of the species at Isla del Coco National Park, and comments (Figs. 2-23 (See Appendix)). Two species are reported for the first time: Dasyatis sp. and Torpedo peruana. Other species were commonly seen. Several species were observed only close to the island and at the shallowest depths: Rhincodon typus, Taeniura meyeni, Dasyatis sp., Manta birostris, and Aetobatus narinari. The maximum depth range of two species is extended, Mobula tarapacana almost 10 times, to 326m, and Torpedo peruana more than twice, to 313m, what has been reported. Garrison (2005) reports 11 species of sharks and rays for Isla del Coco National Park, while Bussing and López (2009) report 16 spp. Two other species, Echinorhinus cookie and Carcharhinus melanopterus, have recently been reported, the first by Long et al. (2011) and the second by López-Garro et al. (2012). With the species reported here, the number of sharks and rays from Isla del Coco National Park increased to 20 species. Starr et al. (2012) observed Carcharhinus falciformis in deepwaters at PNIC but we did not see it in this study. Acknowledgments
We thank the Undersea Hunter Group for the use of the images, ACMIC and the Isla del Coco National Park for extending the permits to develop this project. The Vicerrectoría de Investigación and the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar (CIMAR), Universidad de Costa Rica, for their financial and logistic support. The Consejo Nacional de Rectores de las Universidades Públicas (CONARE) for its financial support. We appreciate very much the time taken by the following ichthyologists to help us with the identification of the elasmobranchs and/or the review of this paper: Peter J. Auster, Felipe Galván-Magaña, Ginger Garrison, John E. McCosker and D. Ross Robertson. JC thanks Nicholas Polunin and Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom, for the oportunity to spend time there as Visiting Professor.
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*Correspondencia a:
Jorge Cortés. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica; jorge.cortes@ucr.ac.cr. Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica Astrid Sánchez-Jiménez. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica. Posgrado en Gestión Integrada de Áreas Costeras Tropicales (GIACT), Sistema de Estudios de Posgrado, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica; astrid_saji@hotmail.com J. Alexander Rodríguez-Arrieta. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica. Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas (CIEMic), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica Geovanna Quirós-Barrantes. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica. Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica
Paula C. González. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica Shmulik Blum. DeepSee, UnderSea Hunter Group, San José, Costa Rica; shmulikbl@underseahunter.com
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1. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica; jorge.cortes@ucr.ac.cr 2. Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica 3. Posgrado en Gestión Integrada de Áreas Costeras Tropicales (GIACT), Sistema de Estudios de Posgrado, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica; astrid_saji@hotmail.com 4. Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas (CIEMic), Ciudad de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica 5. DeepSee, UnderSea Hunter Group, San José, Costa Rica; shmulikbl@underseahunter.com
Received 19-V-2012. Corrected 26-VIII-2012. Accepted 24-IX-2012 
