Feeding Behavior in Three Species of Sharks

Abstract

This report concerns a study of the feeding behavior in three species of sharks: Carcharhinus menisorrah Muller and Henle, the grey shark (Fig. 1), Carcharhinus melanopterus Quoy and Gaimard, the blacktip shark (Fig. 2), both of the family Carcharhinidae; and Triaenodon obesus Ruppell, the whitetip shark (Fig. 3), of the family Triakidae. The study was conducted in the lagoon at Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands, during the summers of 1959 and 1960. It was a segment of a broad program of investigation of shark behavior in which laboratory and field work were coordinated whenever possible. The overall program, conducted at both the Eniwetok Marine Biological Laboratory and the Hawaii Marine Laboratory, Coconut Island, Hawaii, was under the direction of Dr. Albert 1. Tester, with financial support from the Office of Naval Research (Contract Nom 2756(00), Project NR 104503).