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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Fine-Scale Site Selection Of Strand-Feeding Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) And Their Prey, Deborah Kleinclaus Dec 2022

Fine-Scale Site Selection Of Strand-Feeding Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) And Their Prey, Deborah Kleinclaus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Strand-feeding is a unique, cooperative foraging strategy used by some common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at low tide in South Carolina and Georgia salt marshes, where a group of dolphins charges schools of fish, thrusting them onto the bank with their bow wave and then capturing prey items onshore. Strand-feeding dolphins are estuarine residents and frequent predictable stranding sites, suggesting an intimate knowledge of the area. Dolphin behavior prior to stranding suggests they do not herd the fish before charging, but instead prey on fish already shoaling near the bank. The use of active acoustics from strand-feeders in order to …


Abundance And Growth Of Juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon In The Edisto River, Sc, Molly Katherine Takacs Dec 2022

Abundance And Growth Of Juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon In The Edisto River, Sc, Molly Katherine Takacs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Information on abundance and body growth are important for understanding the status and health of populations, and this information can be used to guide and monitor conservation and recovery efforts for species of conservation concern. The Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) is an anadromous fish native to the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. Due to overfishing and habitat degradation, population levels declined, and Atlantic Sturgeon were placed on the Endangered Species list in 2012. Although there is substantial research on adult Atlantic Sturgeon, knowledge about their early life history is lacking. The objective of this study were …


Winter Use Of Winyah Bay, Sc By The Spiny Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias), And Their Movements South Of Cape Hatteras, Nc, Meredith L. Langford May 2022

Winter Use Of Winyah Bay, Sc By The Spiny Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias), And Their Movements South Of Cape Hatteras, Nc, Meredith L. Langford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

South of Cape Hatteras, NC, little is known about the coastal distribution and movement of the Spiny Dogfish, Squalus acanthias. Between January 2018 and March 2020 this study conducted winter demersal longline sampling in Winyah Bay, SC to investigate habitat use by Spiny Dogfish. In addition to monitoring Winyah Bay use through catch-and-release, 13 individuals were outfitted with implanted Vemco™ acoustic transmitters to monitor large scale movements along the U.S. East Coast. Across three sampling seasons 84 female Spiny Dogfish were captured within lower Winyah Bay. No males were observed over the course of the study. The mean fork length …


Quantifying Population-Level Effects Of Warm-Water Catch-And-Release Mortality On Muskellunge (Esox Masquinongy) In The James River, Virginia, Cory J. Bauerlien May 2022

Quantifying Population-Level Effects Of Warm-Water Catch-And-Release Mortality On Muskellunge (Esox Masquinongy) In The James River, Virginia, Cory J. Bauerlien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Catch-and-release (C&R) has become a popular practice in many fisheries, both as a management strategy and as an angler ethic. The practice has been used to both increase the abundance and size structure of fish populations but relies heavily on the assumption that released fish survive the encounter. The Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) is a large-bodied, coolwater predatory game fish that is highly prized by many anglers. Many Muskellunge fisheries have transitioned to almost exclusively C&R angling. Muskellunge fisheries have increased in both number and popularity, particularly in southern and mid-Atlantic rivers. However, there is little information on population characteristics for …