Figure 1 - uploaded by Lindsay Jane Marshall
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Example of a first dorsal fin, a) left side of first dorsal fin, lateral view; bar indicates the free rear tip; b) right side of first dorsal fin, lateral view; bar indicates the free rear tip; c) cross-section of the distal end of the first dorsal fin where the fin has been cut along the fin base, ventral view, bar indicates free rear tip; d) another example of a cross-section of the distal end of the first dorsal fin where the fin has been cut along the fin base, ventral view, bar indicates free rear tip.
Source publication
This publication covers 16 shark species that are globally distributed and are of major importance owing to either their conservation status or because they are a main target for the international trade in the fins. This guide focuses on fresh to partially dried first dorsal fins, pectoral fins and whole caudal fins. The species are arranged in tax...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... Fin the same colour on each side (Fig 1a and 1b, Fig 3a and 3b) Fin darker on the top than the bottom or a different colour on either side (may be subtle) (Fig 2a and 2b) go to step 2 go to step ...
Context 2
... the past few decades, many vulnerable and fished shark species have experienced a global decline. Capture production of chondrichthyan fishes reported to FAO tripled from 1950 to about 888 000 tonnes in 2000, an all-time high (Figure 1). Since then, it has continuously decreased to values of about 15 percent lower (FAO, 2014). The greatest decline in landings is reported in the FAO fishing areas of the Western Central Pacific and Western Indian Ocean (Davidson, Krawchuk and Dulvy, ...
Context 3
... Fin is made up of only one lobe (Fig 1a and 1b, Fig 3a and 3b) Fin is made up of more than one lobes (Fig 3c) go to step ...
Context 4
... Fin has a free rear tip (Fig 1c, Fig 1d) and/or the cross section of the severed end has continuous row of closely spaced cartilaginous blocks running along almost the entire fin base (Fig 1c, Fig 1d) Fin has no free rear tip and the cross section of the severed end is typically only yellow spongy material (ceratotrichia) (Fig 3e) or, when cartilaginous blocks are present they are widely spaced ( ...
Context 5
... Fin has a free rear tip (Fig 1c, Fig 1d) and/or the cross section of the severed end has continuous row of closely spaced cartilaginous blocks running along almost the entire fin base (Fig 1c, Fig 1d) Fin has no free rear tip and the cross section of the severed end is typically only yellow spongy material (ceratotrichia) (Fig 3e) or, when cartilaginous blocks are present they are widely spaced ( ...
Citations
... Initial inspection of the shipment revealed 5,017 individual shark fins in 18 of 22 total boxes. The fins were first sorted by type (i.e., dorsal, pectoral, or caudal) and morphological ID was performed on the dorsal and pectoral fins (n = 3,775) using published relevant qualitative visual diagnostic features with a focus on CITES Appendix I and II species (34). Since the shipment was seized by USFWS WIs due to missing documents and mislabeled contents, our priority was to quickly identify any putative CITES Appendix I or II species and collect tissue samples for species confirmation with DNA sequence analysis. ...
... The shipping manifest indicated that this shipment originated from a distribution company in Venezuela; however, it is possible that the fins originated from a wide range of locations and were amassed over time before being shipped via air cargo. Shark fins are generally graded based on fin type, size, quality, species, smell, and cut, with grades ranging from -A‖ the largest and most expensive to -E‖ and -S‖ the smallest and lowest quality (34). When the fins were being sorted and counted, several boxes contained only large (>10 inches) high-quality S. lewini, S. mokarran, and G. cuvier dorsal and pectoral fins. ...
... Furthermore, none of the fins sampled from the group morphologically labeled as -non-CITES carcharhinids‖ were CITES Appendix I or II species, which lends additional support for the accuracy of our morphological identifications. Focusing genetic sampling efforts on the dorsal fins provided an estimate of the minimum number of individuals and species composition of the sharks harvested for this shipment, since the fins are often sold from an individual shark in a set containing the dorsal, paired pectoral, and lower lobe of the caudal fin (34). The number of dorsal (n = 1301) and caudal (n = 1281) fins is similar to the number of paired pectoral fins (n = 2435) suggesting that between 1281 and 1301 sharks were harvested for this shipment. ...
One of the biggest threats to sustainability of shark populations is overexploitation due to high global market demand for fins, meat, skin, and cartilage. Current laws designed to regulate the worldwide trade in certain shark species have not stemmed illegal and unreported trade. In January 2020, United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) wildlife inspectors seized an illegal shipment of shark fins at the Miami airport during an inspection of an in-transit shipment from South America to Asia. The shipment contained over 5,000 fins, placing it among the largest seizures in the US to date. We utilized a combination of morphological and genetic analyses to evaluate species diversity of the sharks targeted for this illegal shipment. Morphological identification of pectoral (n = 2,435) and dorsal (n = 1,301) fins revealed over 50% were obtained from CITES Appendix II species, including silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran), and scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini). A random subset of dorsal fins (n = 149) was sampled from each of the CITES species and the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) fins (n = 49), to confirm our morphological identifications using genetic data. In addition, a subset of morphologically unidentified fins (n = 192) was genetically identified to estimate species diversity of the fins not identified by morphological analysis. The genetic results revealed 11 additional species for a total of 14 species identified within the shipment. The data from the genetic and morphological analysis of this case will be used to inform ongoing investigations of the origin of this illegal shipment, as well as future investigations of shark fisheries undergoing exploitation for the shark fin trade.
