New NOAA Fisheries study shows that tiger sharks are migrating into northern latitudes earlier and expanding their movements further north due to ocean warming.
A new study has found that tiger sharks’ seasonal distribution has expanded in the northwest Atlantic Ocean over the last several decades. This large-scale northward expansion was driven by climate change, specifically the overall warming of the U.S. Northeast Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem, researchers found. The research was published in the journal Global Change Biology.
“Our tagging and tournament sampling data show that tiger sharks have always spent time in northern latitudes at least going back to the 1960s and 1970s,” said Cami McCandless, study co-author and lead for the NOAA Fisheries’ Apex Predators Program. “But now they are not only arriving earlier but spending more time in northern latitudes due to ocean warming.”
Tiger sharks are a highly migratory species with a distribution that stretches from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. They prefer warm waters (roughly 72 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer). This paper presents empirical evidence of a climate-driven shift in distribution and migration timing for an apex predator—a species at the top of the marine food web.
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