The little gulper shark, Centrophorus uyato, is a deep-water shark found in the Gulf of Mexico. As a keystone species, it is an essential indicator of the ecosystem health where many economically important fishes live. They are an extremely under-researched species, especially their reproduction habits and how crude oil impacts them. Understanding how their population uses different sites in the Gulf of Mexico is necessary to uncover more about the little gulper life cycle and how they could be impacted by any future crude oil spills. 

Using demersal long-line sampling in the northern Gulf of Mexico along with on-deck embryo analysis, a population sample of that site was built. These samples contained a population of 100% female little gulpers, 71% of which had a fertilized embryo. This data, along with research showing high site fidelity from over a decade ago, supports the findings of a little gulper nursery ground around the site SL16-150. This nursery ground is a great point of reference for further exploring the impacts of the environment around the sharks as they develop. Looking towards future investigations on this topic, understanding the seasonal reproduction of little gulpers and analyzing how oil spills or leaks could impact that specific site would be the preferred next steps.