Multiple paternity has been demonstrated in a variety of sharks with different reproductive modes (i.e., viviparous, ovoviviparous, adelphophagy, oviparous), although the number of sires per litter varies considerably among species. To date, such analyses have focused mainly on coastal and nearshore shark species due to the difficulty in sampling oceanic sharks. In the present study, we observed multiple paternity in the oceanic shark Isurus oxyrinchus from seven polymorphic microsatellite loci and three litters collected from Nanfangao Fishing Port. Paternity tests showed that an average of 4.6 sires were assigned to each litter of I. oxyrinchus using COLONY software, and that the average number of sires dropped to 2.5 when using GERUD. These findings suggest that multiple paternity could be a common reproductive strategy used by the shortfin mako shark, and that this mating system should be integrated into a demographic model to make more accurate population projections and risk analyses in the future.
Keywords: Mating system; Microsatellite; Multiple-paternity; Oceanic shark; Shortfin mako shark.