How to translate text using browser tools
1 July 2011 Community Composition of Elasmobranch Fishes Utilizing Intertidal Sand Flats in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia
Simon J. Pierce, Tracey B. Scott-Holland, Michael B. Bennett
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Thirteen elasmobranch species were collected during a 4-yr survey of the intertidal margins of Moreton Bay, a large subtropical embayment in southeastern Queensland, Australia. Stingrays were the most common large predators in the intertidal zone, with total catch dominated numerically by blue-spotted maskray, Neotrygon kuhlii (53.8%); estuary stingray, Dasyatis fluviorum (22.2%); and brown whipray, Himantura toshi (10.2%). There was a significant female bias within intertidal populations of N. kuhlii and D. fluviorum. Courtship behaviors were observed in July and September in D. fluviorum and in January for white-spotted eagle ray, Aetobatus narinari. Dasyatis fluviorum, a threatened Australian endemic stingray, remains locally abundant within the bay. Overall, the inshore elasmobranch fauna of Moreton Bay is relatively species rich compared with similar studies elsewhere in Australia, emphasizing the regional importance of this ecosystem.

© 2011 by University of Hawai'i Press All rights reserved
Simon J. Pierce, Tracey B. Scott-Holland, and Michael B. Bennett "Community Composition of Elasmobranch Fishes Utilizing Intertidal Sand Flats in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia," Pacific Science 65(2), 235-247, (1 July 2011). https://doi.org/10.2984/65.2.235
Accepted: 1 July 2010; Published: 1 July 2011
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top