Necrophagy and Marine Megafauna Predation By Sharks in a Hotspot in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean

Records concerning marine megafauna (e.g., cetaceans, pinnipeds, seabirds, and sea turtles) predation and scavenging events by sharks are scarce along the Brazilian coast. Although Brazil is noteworthy as one of the main global hotspots regarding elasmobranch functional diversity, endemism and diversity, studies on the food biology of this group have been carried out for less than a third of this taxonomic group, even though biology and feeding ecology assessments for shark species from the Brazilian coast are extremely valuable from a global perspective and should be encouraged. In this context, this study records unprecedented ecological predation and necrophagy interactions between sharks and different zoological vertebrate groups through the analysis of several marine megafauna carcasses found stranded on the beaches of the southern coast of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, between 2005 and 2020. The implications of these records in furthering knowledge concerning the life history of the species involved in each interaction are discussed in a context of scarcity of scientific marine ecology data for this Brazilian coast area.

Automated summary

There is a scarcity of records regarding predation and scavenging events by sharks on marine megafauna along the Brazilian coast. This study presents unprecedented ecological interactions between sharks and various vertebrate groups through the analysis of carcasses found on the beaches of Bahia, Brazil. These records contribute to a better understanding of the species' ecology and life history.