Sizing Ocean Giants

Craig McClain

doi:10.15468/mfxiws

Sizing Ocean Giants

Citation

McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, Dove ADM, Gaskins LC, Helm R, Hochberg FG, Lee FB, Marshall A, McMurray SE, Schanche C, Stone SN, Thaler AD (2015) Data from: Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. Southwestern Pacific OBIS, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington, New Zealand, 4563 records, Online http://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource.do?r=sizinggiants released on February 1, 2017. https://doi.org/10.15468/mfxiws accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-26.

Description

What are the greatest sizes that the largest marine megafauna obtain? This is a simple question with a difficult and complex answer. Many of the largest-sized species occur in the world’s oceans. For many of these, rarity, remoteness, and quite simply the logistics of measuring these giants has made obtaining accurate size measurements difficult. Inaccurate reports of maximum sizes run rampant through the scientific literature and popular media. Moreover, how intraspecific variation in the body sizes of these animals relates to sex, population structure, the environment, and interactions with humans remains underappreciated. Here, we review and analyze body size for 25 ocean giants ranging across the animal kingdom. For each taxon we document body size for the largest known marine species of several clades. We also analyze intraspecific variation and identify the largest known individuals for each species. Where data allows, we analyze spatial and temporal intraspecific size variation. We also provide allometric scaling equations between different size measurements as resources to other researchers. In some cases, the lack of data prevents us from fully examining these topics and instead we specifically highlight these deficiencies and the barriers that exist for data collection. Overall, we found considerable variability in intraspecific size distributions from strongly left- to strongly right-skewed. We provide several allometric equations that allow for estimation of total lengths and weights from more easily obtained measurements. In several cases, we also quantify considerable geographic variation and decreases in size likely attributed to humans.

Additional info

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Taxonomic Coverages

Architeuthis dux
rank: species
Enteroctopus dofleini
rank: species
Cetorhinus maximus
rank: species
Dermochelys coriacea
rank: species
Bathynomus giganteus
rank: species
Mola mola
rank: species

Geographic Coverages

Global extent

Bibliographic Citations

McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, Dove ADM, Gaskins LC, Helm R, Hochberg FG, Lee FB, Marshall A, McMurray SE, Schanche C, Stone SN, Thaler AD (2015) Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. Peer J 3: e715. - doi:10.5061/dryad.411mv
McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, Dove ADM, Gaskins LC, Helm R, Hochberg FG, Lee FB, Marshall A, McMurray SE, Schanche C, Stone SN, Thaler AD (2015) Data from: Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna. Dryad Digital Repository. http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.411mv -

Contacts

Craig McClain
originator
position: Principal Investigator
Department of Biology, Duke University
Durham
North Carolina
US

Kevin Mackay
metadata author
position: Marine Database Manager
NIWA
Private Bag 14-901
Kilbirnie
6241
Wellington
NZ
homepage: http://www.niwa.co.nz

Meghan A. Balk
author
position: Co-author
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque
New Mexico
US

Mark C. Benfield
author
position: Co-author
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge
Louisiana
US

Trevor A. Branch
author
position: Co-author
School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, University of Washington
Seattle
Washington
US

Catherine Chen
author
position: Co-author
Department of Biology, Duke University
Durham
North Carolina
US

James Cosgrove
author
position: Co-author
Natural History Section, Royal British Columbia Museum
Victoria
British Columbia
CA

Alistair D. M. Dove
author
position: Co-author
Georgia Aquarium
Atlanta
Georgia
US

Leo Gaskins
author
position: Co-author
Department of Biology, Duke University
Durham
North Carolina
US

Rebecca R. Helm
author
position: Co-author
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University
Providence
Rhode Island
US

Frederick G. Hochberg
author
position: Co-author
Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Santa Barbara
California
US

Frank B. Lee
author
position: Co-author
Department of Biology, Duke University
Durham
North Carolina
US

Andrea Marshall
author
position: Co-author
Marine Megafauna Foundation
Truckee
California
US

Steven E. McMurray
author
position: Co-author
Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Wilmington
North Carolina
US

Caroline Schanche
author
position: Co-author
Department of Biology, Duke University
Durham
North Carolina
US

Shane N. Stone
author
position: Co-author
Department of Biology, Duke University
Durham
North Carolina
US

Andrew D. Thaler
author
position: Co-author
Blackbeard Biologic: Science and Environmental Advisors
Vallejo
California
US

Craig McClain
administrative point of contact
position: Principal Investigator
Department of Biology, Duke University
Durham
North Carolina
US