Karissa Lear

Wedgefish (also called whitespotted guitarfish) are a highly threatened group of shark-like rays. Australia is home to three species: the shark ray Rhina ancylostoma, the bottlenose wedgefish Rhynchobatus australiae, and the Australian endemic eyebrow wedgefish Rhynchobatus palpebratus. Unlike almost everywhere else in the world, wedgefish are thought to be doing relatively well in Australia, with northern Australia housing 'lifeboat' popuations of the globally Critically Endangered shark ray and bottlenose wedgefish. However, almost nothing is known about the basic biology and ecology of wedgefish within Australia or worldwide, including distribution, habitat use, life cycle, reproductive biology, and movement ecology, making it very difficult to understand how well wedgefish are actually doing within Australia, and how we can ensure that they continue to succeed here. This project seeks to change that by using a variety of methods including genetics, citizen science reporting, and fine-scale tracking and biotelemetry work to begin to answer some of the basic questions about wedgefish in Australia in order to support effective conservation of these threatened species.