Morphometric relationships for some species of elasmobranch from tropical eastern Pacific

Abstract

This study proposes length relationship equations to determine total length of four species of sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis, Mustelus lunulatus, Sphyrna lewini and Carcharhinus limbatus) based on trunk lengths (TrL) and interdorsal lengths (IL) caught in Colombia and Central America Pacific Ocean. In Central American Pacific, data were recorded for C. falciformis, C. limbatus and S. lewini between 2006 and 2012. In the Colombian Pacific, data was recorded in 1994–1995 and from 2006 to 2012 for C. falciformis, S. lewini and M. lunulatus. In the Central American Pacific the IL – TL relationship was acceptable for C. falciformis (r2 = .69) and C. limbatus which presented a good relationship (r2 = .81) where most specimens were juveniles; the same trend was found for S. lewini (r2 = .96). The TL-TrL relationship estimated for species caught in the Colombian Pacific was significant for C. falciformis (r2 = .98) and for M. lunulatus (r2 = .84); however, for S. lewini this relationship was low (r2 = .55). Results indicate this is a useful tool for fishery statistics and fishery management for elasmobranch species of the Eastern Tropical Pacific.