Jones et al.: Species compositions of elasmobranchs caught by three commercial fishing methods 
371 
TabSe 3 
Number of females and males, percent contribution of females and the total number and percent contributions of all individuals 
of each elasmobranch species that were recorded during regular onboard observations of the catches from longline vessels on the 
southwest coast of Australia. Plain font = targeted species; Plain font* = byproduct species, i.e., those that are not targeted but 
usually retained; Bold font = bycatch species, i.e., those species that are usually discarded. 
Common name 
Species name 
Female 
n 
Male 
n 
Female 
% 
Total 
n 
Total 
% 
Gummy shark 
Mustelus antarcticus 
234 
129 
64.5 
363 
63.2 
Smooth stingray 
Dasyatis brevicaudata 
21 
20 
51.2 
41 
7.1 
Southern eagle ray 
Myliobatis australis 
15 
19 
44.1 
34 
5.9 
Southern fiddler ray 
Trygonorrhina dumerilii 
24 
8 
75.0 
32 
5.6 
Port Jackson shark 
Heterodontus portusjacksoni 
20 
11 
64.5 
31 
5.4 
Dusky shark 
Carcharhinus obscurus 
16 
6 
72.7 
22 
3.8 
Smooth hammerhead* 
Sphyrna zygaena* 
8 
1 
88.9 
9 
1.6 
Bronze whaler* 
Carcharhinus brachyurus * 
4 
1 
80.0 
5 
0.9 
Whiskery shark 
Furgaleus macki 
5 
0 
100.0 
5 
0.9 
Western wobbegong* 
Orectolobus hutchinsi * 
1 
4 
20.0 
5 
0.9 
Common sawshark* 
Pristiophorus cirratus * 
4 
1 
80.0 
5 
0.9 
School shark* 
Galeorhinus galeus* 
2 
2 
50.0 
4 
0.7 
Western shovelnose ray 
Aptychotrema vincentiana 
3 
0 
100.0 
3 
0.5 
Gulf wobbegong* 
Orectolobus halei* 
1 
2 
33.3 
3 
0.5 
Sandbar shark* 
Carcharhinus plumbeus* 
2 
0 
100.0 
2 
0.4 
Spotted wobbegong* 
Orectolobus maculatus * 
0 
2 
0.0 
2 
0.4 
Rusty carpetshark 
Parascyllium ferrugineum 
0 
2 
0.0 
2 
0.4 
Melbourne skate 
Spinirija whitleyi 
2 
0 
100.0 
2 
0.4 
Spinner shark* 
Carcharhinus brevipinna* 
0 
1 
0.0 
1 
0.2 
Australian sawtail catshark 
Figaro boardmani 
1 
0 
100.0 
1 
0.2 
Pencil shark* 
Hypogaleus hyugaensis* 
0 
1 
0.0 
1 
0.2 
Scalloped hammerhead* 
Sphyrna lewini* 
1 
0 
100.0 
1 
0.2 
Total 
364 
210 
574 
ratio of females to males of H. portusjacksoni differed 
significantly from parity among all individuals collec- 
tively (1 female:0.76 males; j 2 =9.46, PcO.Ol), but not for 
juveniles (1 female:1.20 males; ^ 2 =2.65, P>0.05). Note 
that, when calculating the sex ratios for juveniles, the 
term juvenile refers to females and males with lengths 
less than the smallest mature individual of their re- 
spective sex. 
The A. vincentiana caught by all three fishing meth- 
ods ranged from 201 to 1001 mm TL (Fig. 4; Table 
5), and the smallest individuals lay within the length 
range recorded for the embryos of this species (A. Jones, 
unpubl. data) and the largest individuals exceeded the 
length of “at least 840 mm” reported for this species 
by Last and Stevens (2009). The length-frequency dis- 
tributions of female and male A. vincentiana were both 
broadly bimodal and the numbers of both sexes were rel- 
atively low, between 500 and 699 mm (Fig. 4). However, 
the modal length class of 850-899 mm for the group of 
large females far exceeded that of 700-749 mm for the 
group of large males. Furthermore, the largest female 
A. vincentiana was both far longer (1001 mm) and heavi- 
er (3634 g) than the largest male, i.e., 872 mm and 1886 
g, respectively (Table 5). The ratio of females to males 
differed significantly from parity among all individu- 
als (1 female:0.67 males; ^ 2 =12.81, PcO.001), but not 
among juveniles (1 female:0.76 males; ^ 2 =3.52, P>0.05). 
The smallest S. australis caught by all three fishing 
methods was 228 mm in TL (Fig. 4; Table 5) and thus 
only slightly longer than the length of 220 mm recorded 
for the largest embryo of this species in a concomitant 
study (A. Jones, unpubl. data). Although the maximum 
length of 1004 mm for S. australis in our samples is 
considerably less than the maximum length reported 
for this species by Last and Stevens (2009), it is still 
far greater than the TL 50 for either females or males at 
maturity in southwestern Australian waters. Although 
individuals were represented in all 50-mm length class- 
es between 200 and 1049 mm, the length-frequency 
distributions of females and males were both dominated 
by their 250-299 mm length classes (Fig. 4). The larg- 
est female S. australis was far longer (1004 mm) and 
heavier (10,970 g) than the largest male (859 mm and 
5500 g) (Table 5). The ratio of females to males of S. 
australis did not differ significantly from parity among 
either all individuals collectively (1 female:1.05 males; 
j 2 = 0.18, P>0.05) or among juveniles (1 female:l.ll 
males; j 2 =0.75, P>0.05). 
