A nursery is often drawn as a boundary on a map. Tagged juveniles are showing that the lived habitat can look more like a network.
Following repeated returns
Acoustic tags transmit short identification codes. Fixed receivers record a fish when it passes nearby, allowing researchers to reconstruct recurring routes without continuously following the animal.
The record is incomplete by design. Silence can mean that a shark left the area, passed between receivers, or remained just beyond detection range.
The connective habitat
Across seasons, juveniles used protected shallows, tidal channels, and nearby coastal water. The movement pattern changed with temperature and likely prey conditions.
That matters for management because a protected nursery may depend on corridors and feeding areas outside its formal boundary.
Reading the gaps
Researchers test alternative movement models and compare receiver coverage before describing a route as preferred. The strongest findings come from patterns repeated by many individuals over multiple years.
