Oceanic whitetip sharks Carcharhinus longimanus are a cosmopolitan epipelagic species that was once prolific throughout the tropics and subtropics but was recently listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and as Threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act. Although historically conspicuous in oceanic fisheries catches, relatively little is known about their habitat use, movement, and life history during migration. Given the paucity of data on migratory patterns and lack of age estimate validation available for this species, we evaluated vertebral growth bands for bomb radiocarbon (14C) patterns to derive additional information on these metrics. Individual growth bands (n = 62) were milled from vertebrae of eight individuals caught in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Age estimates based on vertebral growth bands ranged 1–13 years, with capture dates spanning 1978–2004. Plots of vertebral Δ14C relative to regional coral, shark, and fish otolith reference curves suggest age estimates based on presumed annual growth bands were accurate, although specimens were not old enough to capture the most informative portion of the bomb radiocarbon reference period. The magnitude of Δ14C varied among individuals, and individual chronologies demonstrated semi-cyclic patterns of Δ14C depletion and subsequent enrichment, which may be indicative of changes to diet as a function of annual migratory patterns and is supported by recently published telemetry, diet, and stable isotope studies. Although these data are preliminary in nature, they provide some evidence that Δ14C patterns in vertebrae can serve as a multi-purpose tool for life history studies of oceanic sharks.

中文翻译：

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从椎体炸弹放射性碳推断大洋白鳍鲨 Carcharhinus longimanus 的生活史特征

远洋白鳍鲨 Carcharhinus longimanus 是一种世界性的远洋物种，曾经在热带和亚热带地区多产，但最近被国际自然保护联盟列为极度濒危物种，并根据美国濒危物种法案受到威胁。尽管历史上在海洋渔业捕捞中引人注目，但对其栖息地利用、移动和迁徙过程中的生活史知之甚少。鉴于迁移模式的数据缺乏，并且缺乏可用于该物种的年龄估计验证，我们评估了炸弹放射性碳 (14C) 模式的椎骨生长带，以获得有关这些指标的更多信息。个体生长带 (n = 62) 是从大西洋西北部捕获的 8 个个体的椎骨中磨出的。基于椎骨生长带的年龄估计范围为 1-13 岁，捕获日期为 1978-2004 年。椎体 Δ14C 相对于区域珊瑚、鲨鱼和鱼类耳石参考曲线的图表明，基于假定的年生长带的年龄估计是准确的，尽管标本的年龄不足以捕捉炸弹放射性碳参考期的信息量最大的部分。Δ14C 的大小因人而异，个体年表显示出 Δ14C 消耗和随后富集的半循环模式，这可能表明作为年度迁徙模式函数的饮食变化，并得到最近发表的遥测、饮食和稳定的支持同位素研究。虽然这些数据本质上是初步的，