Feeding of captive, tropical carcharhinid sharks from the Embley River estuary, northern Australia

Twenty carcharhinid sharks of 3 species were fed pilchards at different fre quencies to examine feeding-growth relationships. These results are among t he first in Australia on food intake and growth of wild-caught juvenile and sub-adult carcharhinids held in captivity. Mean consumption rates (+/-SE) for all feeding rations were 2.91% (+/-0.28) body weight per day (BWD) for Carcharhinus dussumieri, 3.44 % (+/-0.40) BWD for C. tilstoni and 3.35 % (/-0.34) BWD for Negaprion acutidens. N, acutidens had the highest consumpti on rate of 5.02% BWD at 2 feeds d(-1). Highest mean growth rates were 0.78% (+/-0.11) BWD for C. dussumieri, 1.34 % BWD (+/-0.54) for C. tilstoni and 1.12 % (n = 1) BWD for N, acutidens. Maintenance ration estimates were 1.29 % BWD for C. dussumieri, 1.31% BWD for N. acutidens, and 2.06% BWD for C. t ilstoni. These are similar to Literature estimates. High consumption rates did not always translate directly to high growth rates.