Gulf Coast Research Laboratory

Eric R. Hoffmayer, Ph.D.

Gulf Coast Research Laboratory
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564

Phone: (228)-872-4257

Fax: (228)-872-4204

eric.hoffmayer@usm.edu

Position

Assistant Research Scientist – Center for Fisheries Research and Development

Education

B.S. 1997 – Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Biology
Ph.D. 2003 – The University of Mississippi, Biology

Research Interests

Ecological physiology of elasmobranchs (bioenergetics, stress physiology, hematology, and endocrinology).
Reproduction and life history of coastal shark species.
Abundance, distribution and feeding ecology of coastal sharks within nursery grounds.
Habitat use, life history, and basic biology of the whale shark in the Gulf of Mexico.
Investigating the importance of pelagic Sargassum to the early life history of pelagic fishes in the Gulf of Mexico.

Selected Publications

Franks, J.S., E.R. Hoffmayer, J.R. Ballard, N.M. Garber, and A.F. Garber. 2008. Diet of Wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri, from the northcentral Gulf of Mexico . Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, Proceeding 60 (In press)
Hoffmayer, E.R., J.S. Franks, W.B. Driggers, K.J. Oswald, and J.M.Quattro. 2007. Observations of a feeding aggregation of whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, in the north central Gulf of Mexico. Gulf and Caribbean Research 19(2): 69-73.
Benz, G.W., E.R. Hoffmayer, W.B. Driggers III, D. Allen, L.E. Bishop, D.A. Brown and M.A. Weaver. 2007. First record of a sleeper shark, Somniosus (somniosus) sp. (Somniosidae, Squaliformes) from well within the Gulf of Mexico and deepest record of any shark within the Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 80(2): 343-351.
Parsons, G.R. and E.R. Hoffmayer. 2007. Identification and characterization of shark nursery grounds along the Mississippi and Alabama gulf coasts. In: Shark nursery grounds of the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. (Eds. C. McCandless). AFS Publication 50:301-316.
Parsons, G.R., E.R. Hoffmayer, J. Frank, and W. Bet-Sayad. 2007. A review of shark reproductive ecology: life history and evolutionary implications. In: Fish Reproduction. (Eds. M. Roche, A. Arukwe, and B. Kapoor). Science Publishers: Enfield, New Hampshire, 435-469 p.
Hoffmayer, E.R., J.S. Franks, and J.P. Shelley. 2006. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico: A rationale for research. Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, Proceedings 57: 255-262.
Hoffmayer, E.R., G.R. Parsons, and J. Horton. 2006. Seasonal and inter-annual variation in the energetic condition of the adult male Atlantic sharpnose shark, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae, in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Fish Biology 68: 645-653.
Parsons, G.R. and Hoffmayer, E.R. 2005. Seasonal changes in the distribution and availability of the Atlantic sharpnose shark, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae, in the north central Gulf of Mexico. Copeia 2005(4): 914-920.
Hoffmayer, E.R., J.S. Franks, and J.P. Shelley. 2005. Recent observations on whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico. Gulf and Caribbean Research 17: 117-120.
Hoffmayer, E.R., J.S. Franks, B.H. Comyns, J.R. Hendon, and R.S. Waller. 2005. Larval and juvenile fishes associated with pelagic Sargassum in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico. Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, Proceedings 56: 259-265.
Brown-Peterson, N.J., J.S. Franks, B.H. Comyns, E.R. Hoffmayer, L.A. Hendon, J.R. Hendon, R.S. Waller. 2004. Aspects of the reproduction of large pelagic fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, Proceedings 55: 1016-1017.
Bullard, S.A, Dippenaar, S.M., Hoffmayer, E.R. and Benz, G.W. 2004. New Locality Records for Dermophthirius carcharhini Mac Callum, 1926 (Monogenea: Microbothriidae) and D. maccallumi Watson and Thorson, 1976 and a List of Hosts and Localities for species of Dermophthirius Mac Callum, 1926. Comparative Parasitology 71(1): 78-80.
Hoffmayer, E.R. and Parsons, G.R. 2003. Food habits of three shark species from the northern Gulf of Mexico. Southeastern Naturalist 2(2): 271-280.
Hoffmayer, E.R. and Parsons, G.R. 2001. The physiological response to capture and handling stress in the Atlantic sharpnose shark, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae: description of the secondary stress response. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 25: 277-285.