Recent observations on sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus (Carchardinidae) around sea cages of fish farms in Iskenderun Bay (Türkiye, eastern Mediterranean Sea)
12/31/2022Recent observations on sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus (Carchardinidae) around sea cages of fish farms in Iskenderun Bay (Türkiye, eastern Mediterranean Sea)
Okan Akyol, Halil Şen
ORCID IDs: O.A. 0000-0001-7738-2156; H.Ş. 0000-0003-0878-3583
Faculty of Fisheries, Ege University, 35440 Urla, Izmir, TÜRKİYE
Abstract
About ten specimens of the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, were observed beneath a fish farm sea-cage off the Arsuz coast in Iskenderun Bay, northeastern Mediterranean Sea, on 15 October 2021. Sandbar sharks have been reported to aggregate around fish farms when the seawater temperature reaches >24°C swimming around cages in groups of 10-20 individuals. During the cleaning of the bag, which is attached to the bottom part of the cage to collect the dead reared fish, sandbar sharks were observed to approach the diver and sporadically attempted to attack the cage, as well.
Keywords: Sandbar shark, foraging behaviour, attack, Levantine Basin
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