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Differences in relative heart mass among deep-sea and coastal sharks with increasing depth

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Abstract

Cardiac morphology and mass have been associated with activity levels for bony fishes and elasmobranchs; however, there is little information on cardiac morphology of deep-sea sharks (living primarily below 200 m) and how that morphology compares to cardiac morphology of shallow coastal species. We examined relative heart mass and relative ventricle dry mass in 10 species of sharks from coastal to bathydemersal habitats (23–870 m) to test our hypothesis that relative heart mass decreases with depth. Relative heart mass and relative ventricle dry mass decreased with increasing depth of capture for sharks. The coastal, obligate ram ventilator Carcharhinus limbatus had the highest relative heart mass (1.17 g/kg) and relative ventricle dry mass (0.18 g/kg), whereas the deep-sea species Centrophorus uyato had the lowest (relative heart mass, 0.34 g/kg; relative ventricle dry mass, 0.057 g/kg). Our findings of decreasing relative heart and ventricle size with increasing depth support the visual interaction hypothesis as an explanation for reduced metabolic capacity in deep-sea sharks.

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Data availability

The data in this study are available with reasonable request from the corresponding author at melarsen@coastal.edu or matt.larsen@knights.ucf.edu.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Coastal Carolina University and the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory for all of the support while undertaking this research. Both of these institutions contributed to the completion of this research. We acknowledge the Coastal Carolina University Shark Research Project and volunteers for their assistance processing samples over the course of this study. We also thank Dr. Scott Parker for the use of equipment and laboratory space during this study. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge the contribution of undergraduate students David Klett and Sarah Gregory of Coastal Carolina University for their assistance. We also acknowledge the Deep-C consortium and the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) for funding to collect the deep-sea shark samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, 29528, USA

    M. E. Larsen & D. P. Crane

  2. Department of Marine Science, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, 29528, USA

    D. C. Abel

  3. Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, St. Teresa, FL, 32358, USA

    R. D. Grubbs

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  1. M. E. Larsen
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  2. D. C. Abel
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  3. D. P. Crane
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  4. R. D. Grubbs
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Contributions

M.E.L. and D.C.A. developed the initial research question. M.E.L., D.C.A., and R.D.G. developed a hypothesis based on the initial research idea. M.E.L. collected the heart morphology measurements. M.E.L. completed statistical analysis with the help of D.P.C. M.E.L., D.C.A., and R.D.G. contributed to collecting and preparing samples. All authors contributed to interpretation of the results. M.E.L. was lead author for the manuscript. All authors provided feedback that contributed to the development of this manuscript from an initial research question.

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Correspondence to M. E. Larsen.

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The authors confirm that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and animal rights

All shark collection and handling procedures were approved by the Coastal Carolina University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (#2012.04) and Florida State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (#1708 and 1718).

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Larsen, M.E., Abel, D.C., Crane, D.P. et al. Differences in relative heart mass among deep-sea and coastal sharks with increasing depth. Mar Biol 167, 169 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03780-0

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