Data and code for: Pelagic sharks target long-lived, retentive anticyclonic eddies in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Open ocean ecosystems represent the largest habitat on Earth and are highly dynamic in time and space. Mesoscale eddies are a primary driver of this variability and serve a key structural role in ocean ecosystems. Eddies modulate marine biodiversity beyond their impacts on plankton, influencing many ecologically and commercially important predators that may preferentially occupy anticyclonic eddies. However, how animal-eddy interactions scale across predator species and the mechanistic drivers of these relationships remain an area of active research. We integrated satellite tracking data for sharks with observations of mesoscale eddies to determine how four shark species interact with eddies in the Gulf Stream region. Based on over 24,000 tracking days, we found that blue, white, and shortfin mako sharks selected for the cores of anticyclones while use of eddies by tiger sharks was less conspicuous. Some particularly large and long-lived anticyclones were occupied by tagged sharks for m..., Methods of data collection/generation:
Satellite tagging and shark movements
We analyzed data from 108 deployments of satellite-linked electronic tags on four species of sharks in the North Atlantic: white shark (Carcharodon carcharias, n=10); tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier, n=21); shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus, n=48); and blue shark (Prionace glauca, n=29). These tags provide relatively accurate (generally <10 km error; Douglas et al. 2012) satellite-based positions when the tagged individual comes to the surface, but do not provide any information on vertical habitat use. Resulting locations were processed with a Kalman filtering algorithm by Collecte Localisation Satellites (Lopez et al., 2014) and subsequently assigned error flags called location classes (LC): LC 3, <250 m; LC 2, 250-500 m; LC 1, 500-1500 m; LC 0, >1500 m for classes 3, 2, 1, 0. Additional classes A, B represent positions derived from less than four satellite messages which result in no estimates of spat..., # Data for Pelagic sharks target long-lived, retentive anticyclonic eddies in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

---

# Reference Information

## Provenance for this README

* Authors: Camrin D. Braun
* Other contributors: see manuscript citation below for all contributing authors
* Date created: 2025-08-16
* Date modified: 2025-08-16

## Dataset Version and Release History

* Current Version:
* Number: 1.0.0
* Date: 2025-08-16
* Persistent identifier: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qdf
* Summary of changes: n/a
* Embargo Provenance: n/a
* Scope of embargo: n/a
* Embargo period: n/a

## Dataset Attribution and Usage

* Dataset Title: Data for \"Pelagic sharks target long-lived, retentive anticyclonic eddies in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean\"
* Persistent Identifier: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qdf
* Dataset Contributors:
* Creators: Camrin D. Braun
* Date of Issue: 2024-08-16
* Publisher: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
* License: Use of these data is covered by the MIT access license
* Title...,