Soma Tokunaga 德永 壮真
Current Position
04/2021 to Present
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Kanagawa, Japan
PhD candidate in Science (expected March 2026)
Educational Background
04/2021 to Present
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Kanagawa, Japan
PhD candidate in Science (expected March 2026)
- Investigating behavioral and physiological ecology of sharks
- Using animal-borne electronic sensors to obtain the data from wild sharks
- Examining thermoregulation abilities of large pelagic sharks
04/2017 to 03/2021
Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
Bachelor of Fisheries Science (March 2021)
04/2014 to 03/2017
Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka High School, Fukuoka, Japan
Employment History
04/2023 to Present
JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC1), Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (Host Institution: The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Japan)
- Examining swimming and thermoregulation abilities of shortfin mako sharks
- Using animal-borne sensors to obtain behavioral and physiological data from wild sharks
06/2025 to Present, 06/2024 to 01/2025, 06/2023 to 01/2024
Research assistant (Host Institution: Research Center for Integrative Evolutionary Science, SOKENDAI, Japan)
- Supporting for data analysis related to environmental responses of sharks
05/2022 to 02/2023, 05/2021 to 02/2022
Research assistant (Host Institution: National Institute of Polar Research, Japan)
- Supporting for data analysis related to environmental responses of polar animals
Awards
- Best English Presentation Award for the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan, Sapporo, Japan, March 2025
- Excellent Poster Award for the 3rd RCIES×MMBS Student Exchange Meeting, Kanagawa, Japan, February 2025
- Excellent Poster Award for the 69th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan, Online, March 2022
- Best Presentation Award for Undergraduate Thesis, Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan, March 2021
- Excellent English Presentation Award, The 5th Foreign Language Presentation Contest, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan, November 2018
Grants
04/2026 to 03/2028
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, JSPS Overseas Research
Fellowship
04/2023 to 03/2026
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows
(grant number: 23KJ1010). “Investigation of swimming performance and predatory strategies of endothermic shortfin mako sharks”
04/2021 to 02/2022
The Japan Science Society, the Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant (grant
number: 2021-4036). “How great white sharks pursue their prey: Investigating prey-pursuit strategies using AI-assisted video loggers”
Publications
- Lin S-J, Chang C-T, Tokunaga S, Watanabe Y. Y, Chen Y-Y, Tsai W-P, Musyl M. K, Chiang W-C (2026) Horizontal and vertical movement ecology of shortfin mako sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus) in coastal and offshore waters of Taiwan. Endangered Species Research (accepted)
- Tokunaga S, Chiang W-C, Nakamura I, Matsumoto R, Watanabe Y. Y (2025) Enhanced thermoregulation abilities of shortfin mako sharks as the key adaptive significance of regional endothermy in fishes. Journal of Animal Ecology, 94, 2178–2189.
- Okamura T, Tokunaga S (co-first author), Ogawa T, Yoda K (2024) A shortfin mako shark circling a finless porpoise with damaged caudal fin. Ecology and Evolution, 14(7), e70024.
- Tokunaga S, Kawabata Y, Takahashi A (2023) Penguin-mounted video camera provides new insights into predator–prey interactions with prey fish. Ecology, e3992.
- Tokunaga S, Watanabe Y. Y, Kawano M, Kawabata Y (2022) Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes. Biology Open, 11(6), bio059270.
- Tokunaga S, Kadota T, Watanabe Y. Y, Kuwamura T, Kawabata Y (2022) Idea Paper: Effects of gonad type and body mass on the time required for sex change in fishes. Ecological Research, 1–5.
Conferences
- Tokunaga S, Chiang WC, Nakamura I, Matsumoto R, Watanabe Y. Y. Extraordinary thermoregulation abilities of shortfin mako sharks as the key adaptive significance of regional endothermy in fishes. The 72nd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan, Sapporo, Japan, March 2025 (oral)
- Tokunaga S, Watanabe Y. Y. Re-examination of thermal niche expansion hypothesis in regionally endothermic fishes. The 3rd RCIES×MMBS Student Exchange Meeting, Kanagawa, Japan, February 2025 (poster)
- Tokunaga S, Chiang WC, Nakamura I, Matsumoto R, Watanabe Y. Y. Enhanced thermoregulatory ability in regionally endothermic shortfin mako sharks. The 8th International Bio-Logging Science Symposium, Tokyo, March 2024 (oral)
- Tokunaga S, Chiang WC, Nakamura I, Matsumoto R, Watanabe Y. Y. Enhanced thermoregulatory ability in regionally endothermic shortfin mako sharks. Congress of Animal Behavior and Ecology 2024, Taipei, January 2024 (oral)
- Tokunaga S, Chiang WC, Nakamura I, Matsumoto R, Watanabe Y. Y. Extraordinary thermoregulation abilities of shortfin mako sharks. The 2nd RCIES×MMBS Student Exchange Meeting, Kanagawa, Japan, December 2023 (oral)
- Tokunaga S, Payne N, Kawabe R, Nakamura I, Furukawa S, Watanabe Y. Y. Why are endothermic fishes fast? Comparative analyses of tail-beat frequency and stride length. The 69th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan, Online, March 2022 (poster)
- Tokunaga S, Kawabata Y, Takahashi A. Animal-borne video camera provides new insights into predator-prey interactions between the Adélie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae and the prey fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki. The 13th Symposium on Polar Science, Online, November 2022 (poster)
- Tokunaga S, Watanabe Y. Y, Kawano M, Kawabata Y. Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes. The 12th Symposium on Polar Science, Online, November 2021 (poster)
- Tokunaga S, Watanabe Y. Y, Kawano M, Kawabata Y. Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes. The 68th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan, Online, March 2021 (oral)
- Tokunaga S, Watanabe Y. Y, Kawano M, Kawabata Y. Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes. The 91st Annual Meeting of the Zoological Society of Japan, Online, September 2020 (poster)
- Tokunaga S, Kadota T, Watanabe Y. Y, Kuwamura T, Kawabata Y. Effects of gonad type and body mass on the time required for sex change in fishes. The 31st Fish Ecology Research Meeting, Fukuoka, Japan, February 2020 (poster)
Group Memberships
- The International Bio-Logging Society
- The Japanese Society of Bio-Logging Science
- The Ecological Society of Japan