Post-mortem findings in southern right whales Eubalaena australis at Península Valdés, Argentina, 2003-2012

• Published in: Diseases of Aquatic Organisms
• Main Authors: McAloose, Denise, Rago, María Virginia, Di Martino, Matías, Chirife, Andrea, Olson, Sarah H., Beltramino, Lucas Esteban, Pozzi, Luciana Melina, Musmeci, Luciana Raquel, la Sala, Luciano Francisco, Mohamed, Nadia, Sala, Juan Emilio, Bandieri, Lucas Martín, Andrejuk, Julian, Tomaszewicz, Ania, Seimon, Tracie, Sironi, Mariano, Samartino, Luis Ernesto, Rowntree, Victoria, Uhart, Marcela María
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Inter-Research
• Subjects: ARGENTINA; CALF; EUBALAENA AUSTRALIS; HISTOLOGY; MORTALITY; NEONATE; PENÍNSULA VALDÉS; SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1; Argentina; Denise; Rago; Southern Right Whale
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11336/37890

Between 2003 and 2012, 605 southern right whales (SRW; Eubalaena australis) were found dead along the shores of Península Valdés (PV), Argentina. These deaths included alarmingly high annual losses between 2007 and 2012, a peak number of deaths (116) in 2012, and a significant number of deaths across years in calves-of-the-year (544 of 605 [89.9%]; average = 60.4 yr-1). Postmortem examination and pathogen testing were performed on 212 whales; 208 (98.1%) were calvesof- the-year and 48.0% of these were newborns or neonates. A known or probable cause of death was established in only a small number (6.6%) of cases. These included ship strike in a juvenile and blunt trauma or lacerations (n = 5), pneumonia (n = 4), myocarditis (n = 2), meningitis (n = 1), or myocarditis and meningitis (n = 1) in calves. Ante-mortem gull parasitism was the most common gross finding. It was associated with systemic disease in a single 1-2 mo old calf. Immunohistochemical labeling for canine distemper virus, Toxoplasma gondii and Brucella spp., and PCR for cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV), influenza A, and apicomplexan protozoa were negative on formalin-fixed, paraffinembedded lung and brain samples from a subset of whales; PCR for Brucella spp. was positive in a newborn/neonate with pneumonia. Skin samples from whales with gull parasitism were PCR negative for CeMV, poxvirus, and papillomavirus. This is the first long-term study to investigate and summarize notable post-mortem findings in the PV SRW population. Consistent, significant findings within or between years to explain the majority of deaths and those in high-mortality years remain to be identified. Fil: McAloose, Denise. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados Unidos. Southern Right Whale Health Monitoring Program; Argentina Fil: Rago, María Virginia. Southern Right Whale Health Monitoring Program; Argentina. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Di Martino, Matías. Southern Right Whale ...