Rapid Ocean Warming Drives Sexually Divergent Habitat Use in a Threatened Predatory Marine Ectotherm

Abstract

Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems worldwide, altering physical, chemical, and biological processes at unprecedented rates. Severe impacts on marine species and habitats have been extensively documented, with shifts in phenology, spatial distribution, and migratory behaviour increasingly pervasive. However, there is a lack of species-specific data examining responses and adaptation to rapid warming and environmental extremes, especially for marine ectotherms. In this study, we investigate the broad-scale environmental drivers of distribution in a Critically Endangered ectothermic marine predator, the angelshark Squatina squatina, and report on a behavioural anomaly observed in 2022. Between 2018 and 2023, 112 adult S. squatina were tracked using acoustic telemetry in La Graciosa Marine Reserve in the Canary Islands. Relationships between seasonal presence of S. squatina and remotely sensed environmental parameters were examined with Boosted Regression Tree and Generalised Additive Modelling. Major sex differences were found, with female sharks strongly influenced by environmental conditions and particularly sensitive to temperature, with a possible upper thermal threshold close to 22.5°C. Peak sea surface temperature in the study area increased from 22.99°C to 23.81°C, and the number of days above 22.5°C nearly tripled. Absence of females during the 2022 breeding season coincided with widespread thermal anomalies across the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, with unusually high temperatures persisting later into the year. We conclude that this potentially disrupted seasonal thermal cues for S. squatina movement, leading to sexually divergent habitat use. Given the warming projected for this region, thermal thresholds may increasingly be exceeded, and key areas may become inhospitable for female S. squatina, which is of huge concern for this already highly threatened species. These findings highlight the urgency of identifying species-specific environmental tolerances and incorporating these into conservation so that management remains ecologically relevant in a rapidly warming ocean.