Adams, D.H., M.E. Mitchell & G.H. Parsons. (1994). Seasonal Occurrence of the White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, in Waters off the Florida West Coast, with Notes on its Life History. Marine Fisheries Review. 56(4):24-28.
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Adams, D.H., M.E. Mitchell & G.H. Parsons
1994
Seasonal Occurrence of the White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, in Waters off the Florida West Coast, with Notes on its Life History.
"We collected three species of para sitic copepods from the 275 cm male shark and the 391 cm female shark. Pandarus smithii and P. satyrus were present in the mouth of the male shark, and Dinamoura latifolia specimens were attached to the trailing edge of its caudal fin. Pandarus satyrus was also collected from the mouth and left pec toral fin of the female."
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The white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is considered rare in the Gulf of Mexico; however, recent longline captures coupled with historical landings information suggest that the species occurs seasonally (winter-spring) within this region. We examined a total ofseven adult and juvenile white sharks (185-472 em total length) captured in waters offthe west coast of Florida. Commercial longline fisheries were monitoredfor white sharks during all months (1981-94), but this species was captured only from January to April. All white sharks were captured in continental shelf waters from 37 to 222 km offthe west coast of Florida when sea surface temperatures rangedfrom 18.7° to 21.6°C. Depths atcapture locations ranged from 20 to 164 m. Fishing gear typically used in Gulf of Mexico offshore fisheries may not be effective at capturing this species, and the apparent rarity of white sharks in this area may be, in part, afunction ofgear bias.
