Citizen science provides evidence that a large coastal shark species returns to the same or nearby shipwrecks

Paxton et al. demonstrate that an iconic, imperiled shark species, the sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus), returns to the same or nearby shipwrecks over time. These shipwrecks are located off North Carolina, USA, in an area known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” because it hosts hundreds of shipwrecks. Sand tigers are known to aggregate around these shipwrecks, but it was unknown whether individual sharks returned to the same wrecks. Paxton et al. used photos collected by citizen scientists for the Spot A Shark USA citizen‐science program to document preliminary site fidelity to these shipwrecks by six female sharks. Photo credit: J. McCord/CSI. Photo credit: J. McCord/CSI. Photo credit: Tanya Houppermans. These photographs illustrate the article “Citizen science reveals female sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) exhibit signs of site fidelity on shipwrecks” by Avery B. Paxton, Erica Blair, Camryn Blawas, Michael H. Fatzinger, Madeline Marens, Jason Holmberg, Colin Kingen, Tanya Houppermans, Mark Keusenkothen, John McCord, Brian R. Silliman, and Linda M. Penfold published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.268