Bioenergetic Model of the Highly Exploited Shark Mustelus schmitti under a Global Warming Context

MOLINA, JUAN MANUEL; YOON, SEOKJIN; ELISIO, MARIANO; KASAI, AKIHIDE

Diversity

MDPI

Lugar: Basel; Año: 2023 vol. 15 p. 1 - 22

Bioenergetic models are tools that allow the evaluation of the effect of environmentalvariables on fish growth. Successful implementation of this approach has been achieved in a fewelasmobranch species. Our objective was to develop a bioenergetic model for Mustelus schmitti. Themodel developed showed a good fit to the field data available and accurately described the growth ofthis species. The practical example developed in this study provides novel population estimates ofprey consumption and daily ration for the species. Results also indicate that this species would besusceptible to the effects of climate change. In the simulated climate change scenarios, the energybudget of M. schmitti was significantly altered, with increased food consumption and impairedgrowth. While there exists a number of limitations for the model developed in this article, namely itslimitation to immature individuals, and its restricted temperature model, it provides an importanttool for the management of this and other shark populations under heavy exploitation.