Bojan Lazar

Feeding ecology and trophic segregation of two sympatric mesopredatory sharks in the heavily exploited coastal ecosystem of the Adriatic Sea

The ecological roles and trophic interactions of two commercially important mesopredatory shark species, Squalus acanthias and Mustelus punctulatus that co-occur on the continental shelf of the north-central Adriatic Sea were investigated. Both shark species are dietary specialists, with a significant dietary overlap recorded only during the spring season. They showed different patterns of feeding as they grew: S. acanthias extended its trophic niche with an increase in size, while M. punctulatus developed a more specialized diet. These two sharks partition food resources and reduce niche overlap by foraging at different trophic levels. Mustelus punctulatus is a crustacean feeder, specialized in foraging on scavenging malacostracans frequently found along trawl tracks or on discards in the Adriatic fishing zone. Conversely, S. acanthias prefers small pelagic fishes, which are commercially exploited and in decline. The different foraging strategies adopted by these two species suggest that they should be managed separately. Dietary specialization, direct competition with humans for prey and their higher intrinsic vulnerability make S. acanthias particularly susceptible to the effects of anthropogenic perturbations.

Age and growth dynamics of spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias, in the Adriatic Sea (Eastern Mediterranean Sea)

This research provides the first information on age and growth estimates for the endangered Mediterranean subpopulation of spiny dogfish, a commercially exploited shark, highly sensitive to overexploitation. We collected samples from 206 specimens caught by commercial bottom trawls in the Adriatic Sea, and utilising three ageing protocols achieved good agreement between the readings (average percentage error=1.65%). Four growth models were fitted to length-at-age and weight-at-age data, for each sex separately. The Gompertz growth model produced the statistically best fit resulting in the following parameters: k values for males and females were 0.09 and 0.04 year–1, size-at-birth ranged from 22.9 to 24.1-cm total length, with a theoretical asymptotic length of 103.3cm for males and 173.3cm for females. The age at 50% maturity was 10.5 years for males and 20.1 years for females. The maximum age was estimated at 23 years for males and 36 years for females, with natural mortality estimates of 0.12 for males and 0.07 for females. As a result of reported demographic parameter estimates, high fishing effort and particularly low resilience of the species to exploitation, it is important to produce proper species-specific management strategy for the spiny dogfish in the region.

New data on the occurrence of the critically endangered common angelshark, Squatina squatina, in the Croatian Adriatic Sea

1Department of Zoology, Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia 2Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Kaštel 24, HR-51551 Veli Lošinj, Croatia 3Department of Biodiversity, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagoljaška 8, SI-6000 Koper, Slovenia 4Marine Sciences Program, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Zagrebačka 30, HR-52100 Pula, Croatia