ACTA ICHTHYOLOGICA ET PISCATORIA (2012) 42 (4): 335–339 DOI: 10.3750/AIP2012.42.4.07 OCCURRENCE OF BASKING SHARK, CETORHINUS MAXIMUS (ELASMOBRANCHII: LAMNIFORMES: CETORHINIDAE), OFF THE SYRIAN COAST (EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN) WITH FIRST DESCRIPTION OF EGG CASE Malek ALI 1, Adib SAAD 1, Christian REYNAUD 2, and Christian CAPAPÉ 3* 1 Marine Sciences Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen university, Lattakia, Syria interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Didactique, Éducation et Formation, E.A. 3749, case 77, Université Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, 34 095 Montpellier cedex 5, France 3 Laboratoire d’Ichtyologie, Université Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, 34 095 Montpellier cedex 5, France 2 Laboratoire Ali M., Saad A., Reynaud C., Capapé C. 2012. Occurrence of basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus (Elasmobranchii: Lamniformes: Cetorhinidae), off the Syrian coast (eastern Mediterranean) with first description of egg case. Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 42 (4): 335–339. Abstract. The authors report in this paper the first record of basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765), off the coast of Syria (eastern Mediterranean). The specimen was an adult female, 690 cm total length and weighing approximately 2.5 t. It was a pregnant female at the beginning of gestation and contained 34 egg cases. The first description of C. maximus egg case is provided with short comments on the reproductive biology of the species. Keywords: Chondrichthyes, Cetorhinidae, Cetorhinus maximus, first record, egg case, Syrian coast, Mediterranean Basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765), is a large shark, distributed worldwide, generally found in boreal to warm temperate waters, frequently sighted in open seas, and which often enters into enclosed bays where it is usually captured; additionally, some dead specimens are found stranded on the beach (Compagno 1984). The presence of basking shark is known in the Mediterranean, but most of the reported captures were from western and central areas (Mancusi et al. 2005), especially off the Maghreb coast (Capapé et al. 2005) and the Adriatic Sea (Lipej et al. 2000, Soldo et al. 2008). Conversely, C. maximus appears to be less frequently captured in the eastern Mediterranean basin, from the Turkish coast (Kabasakal 2002, Kabasakal and Kabasakal 2004, Golani et al. 2006) to Levant Basin (Golani 2005). It has hitherto not been reported off Lebanon (Mouneimne 1977, 1979) and Syria, where through surveys conducted from January 2000 to date, 42 elasmobranch species have already been identified (Saad et al. 2004, Ali et al. 2010). During these surveys, a female C. maximus was captured on 20–21 April 2012 by gill-net, spread from the beach to 150 m in the sea, at a depth of approximately 10 metres, off Raas Albassit, city located in northern Syria (35°50′50′′N, 35°48′16′′E; Fig. 1). The specimen was a female measuring Fig. 1. Map of the Mediterranean showing Syria and map 6.90 m in total length and weighing 2.5 t (Fig. 2). Its identiof the coast of Syria pointing out the capture site of the fication was aided by Bigelow and Schroeder (1948), pregnant female Cetorhinus maximus (black star) * Correspondence: Dr Christian Capapé, Laboratoire d’Ichtyologie, case 104, Université Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, 34 095 Montpellier cedex 5, France, phone: +33467544162, e-mail: capape@univ-montp2.fr. 336 Ali et al. Compagno (1984), and Quéro (1984), based on: 5 extremely huge gill-slits virtually encircling the head, gill arches with bristle-like rakers, pointed snout, large sub-terminal mouth with numerous minute hooked teeth, caudal peduncle with strong lateral keels, lunate caudal fin nearly asymmetrical. Measurements were carried out directly at Lattakia fish market, following methodology of Compagno (1984) for sharks, and recorded to the nearest cm. The absolute values were also related to the percentage of total length (Table 1). The female was cut up in a hurry by fishermen and rapidly sold, the abdominal cavity was opened and 34 egg cases were found in the body liquids (Fig. 3). Unfortunately, a single egg case could be collected; it was deposited in the Ichthyological Collection of the Marine Sciences Laboratory, Agriculture Faculty, Tishreen University of Syria, under the catalogue number 251 M.S.L. (Fig. 4). The egg case was studied and presented herein, following the methodology proposed by Oddone et al. 2 (2006) and Oddone and Vooren (2008) for skate species. The egg case, 96 mm length and 46 mm width, was globally ovoid, symmetrically convex with a highest point centrally located; it was keeled longitudinally, and its anterior margin was curved, with on each corner a hornlike short projection, followed by anterior tendril of 87 mm length, rounded in cross section of 3 mm diameter, exhibiting two short curved expansions. The case corpus was followed by a posterior horn, sharp and triangular, measuring 68 mm in length, 26 mm in maximum width, and 12 mm in minimum width, ended by a filament measuring 90 mm in length, 8 mm in maximum width and 4 mm in minimum width. The complete egg case weighed 40.39 g. Two empty cases weighed 9.49 and 9.37 g, respectively with an average of 9.43 ± 0.08 g, so the egg weighed 30.96 g approximately. This large female C. maximus contained egg cases in the uterus, was at the beginning of the gestation, and it could be 3 4 Figs. 2–4. Pregnant female of Cetorhinus maximus captured off the coast of Syria; Fig. 2. Entire specimen loaded on a truck; Fig. 3. Egg cases (EC) outside the uterus (Ut); Scale bar = 100 mm; Fig. 4. Single egg case; Ant Ten = anterior filament; Ant Mrg = anterior margin; Exp = expansions; Hor Pro = horny process; Post Ten = posterior filament; Post Hor = posterior horn; Post Mrg = posterior margin; Scale bar = 50 mm 337 Cetorhinus maximus captured off the Syrian coast Table 1 Morphometric measurements (absolute and relative values) recorded in the pregnant female of Cetorhinus maximus captured off the coast of Syria Morphometric character Total length Pre-second dorsal fin length Pre-first dorsal-fin length Head length Pre-branchial length Pre-spiracular length Pre-orbital length Pre-pelvic-fin length Pre-anal-fin length Pelvic-fin anal-fin space Pre-narial length Pre-oral length Eye length Eye ball length Cornea Pectoral fin anterior margin Pectoral-fin base Pectoral-fin inner margin Pectoral-fin posterior margin Dorsal caudal-fin margin Preventral caudal-fin margin Upper postventral caudal-fin margin Lower postventral caudal-fin margin Caudal-fin fork width Terminal caudal-fin margin Terminal caudal-fin lobe First dorsal-fin anterior margin First dorsal-fin base First dorsal-fin height First dorsal-fin inner margin First dorsal-fin posterior margin Second dorsal-fin anterior margin Second dorsal-fin base Second dorsal-fin inner margin Second dorsal-fin posterior margin Pelvic-fin anterior margin Pelvic-fin base Pelvic-fin height Pelvic-fin inner margin [length] Pelvic-fin posterior margin [length] Anal-fin length Anal-fin anterior margin Anal-fin base Anal-fin inner margin Value Absolute [cm] Relative [% TL] 690 475 244 128 90 62 32 375 485 74 18 27 7 5 2 120 40 24 105 143 95 90 68 52 21 25 52 55 44 15 58 25 18 27 22 50 58 28 15 58 23 24 28 16 100.0 68.8 35.4 18.6 13.0 9.0 4.6 54.3 70.3 10.7 2.6 3.9 0.9 0.7 0.2 17.4 5.8 3.5 15.2 20.7 13.8 13.0 9.9 7.5 3.0 3.6 7.5 8.0 6.4 2.2 8.4 3.6 2.6 3.9 3.2 7.2 8.4 4.1 2.2 8.4 3.3 3.5 4.1 2.3 338 Ali et al. cont. Table 1 Value Absolute [cm] Relative [% TL] Morphometric character TAnal-fin posterior margin Abdomen height Second dorsal-fin insertion anal-fin insertion Mouth length Mouth width Nostril width Internarial space Tail width Caudal-fin peduncle width 21 110 7 42 94 6 13 65 29 3.0 15.9 1.0 6.1 13.6 0.9 1.9 9.4 4.2 %TL = percentage of total length. considered as a pregnant specimen, the second recorded to date. The first record was made by a Norwegian fisherman who caught a female ready to give birth to large near-term embryos (Sund 1943). Catches of basking sharks exclusively concern non-pregnant females (Watkins 1958, Mancusi et al. 2005). Matthews (1950) recorded a nonpregnant female C. maximus having large number of small eggs in their ovaries. Compagno (1984) and Kunzlik (1988) suggest that the species is ovoviviparous and has uterine cannibalism like other lamnoids, with embryos feeding on the small eggs. Such hypothesis is not suitable due to the fact that the species exhibits minute teeth and is planktonophagous. Additionally, the eggs found in this female—rather large and heavy—showed that C. maximus is unable to assume this reproductive strategy. On the other hand, C. maximus is not a true ovoviviparous elasmobranch species such as whale shark, Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828, in which embryo development is protected by a rigid capsule in female uterus (Joung et al. 1996). At maturity, female basking sharks reach the size of 8.1–9.8 m (Compagno 1984). The specimen described in the present paper showed that females could mature at smaller-size, which would be consistent with Bigelow and Schroeder (1948) who noted that they matured between the length of 457 and 610 cm. Gilmore (1993) noted that parturition size occurred when the embryos reached 150 cm total length and the smallest free-swimming specimen was 165 cm total length. Compagno (1984) noted that gestation period of basking shark lasted between 12 and 36 months. The small size and low weight of eggs collected and—on the contrary—the large size of neonates (observed elsewhere) suggest a substantial transfer of nutrients from the mother to the embryos. Such transfers probably require a long period of time. The length of this period, however, still remains obscure and requires further records to be clearly assessed. The presently reported fecundity per litter (34 eggs) does not appear very low for an elasmobranch species, for instance, Capapé (1985) recorded a minimum fecundity of one specimen per litter in gulper shark, Centrophorus granulosus (Bloch and Schneider 1801). This first record of C. maximus off the Syrian coast confirms the rarity of the species throughout the Mediterranean Sea. 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