Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea
The evolution of a permanent separation of the upper respiratory and digestive tract is one of the adaptions cetaceans evolved for their aquatic life. Generally, it prevents odontocetes from choking on either saltwater or foreign bodies during ingestion under water. Nevertheless, several sporadic si...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:227eb9d3765a481da6145d10a1841d9e 2024-01-07T09:43:45+01:00 Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea Stephanie Gross Marco Roller Holger Haslob Miguel Grilo Jan Lakemeyer Anja Reckendorf Peter Wohlsein Ursula Siebert 2020-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10160 https://doaj.org/article/227eb9d3765a481da6145d10a1841d9e EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/10160.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/10160/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.10160 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/227eb9d3765a481da6145d10a1841d9e PeerJ, Vol 8, p e10160 (2020) Odontocetes Common sole Asphyxiation Bolus death Post-mortem examination Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10160 2023-12-10T01:50:41Z The evolution of a permanent separation of the upper respiratory and digestive tract is one of the adaptions cetaceans evolved for their aquatic life. Generally, it prevents odontocetes from choking on either saltwater or foreign bodies during ingestion under water. Nevertheless, several sporadic single case reports from different parts of the world show that this separation can be reversed especially by overly large items of prey. This incident can have a fatal outcome for the odontocetes. The German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein has a year-round, permanent and systematic stranding network that retrieves stranded marine mammals from its shorelines and constantly enables post-mortem examinations. In 2016, with nine affected animals, a high incidence of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) occurred during spring and early summer on the German North Sea island of Sylt. All flatfish were identified as common sole (Solea solea). A retrospective post-mortem data analysis over a 30-year period from the North and Baltic Sea revealed similar yearly and seasonally case accumulations on the same island in the 1990s as well as several single case events over the whole timespan. All cases except one were caused by flatfish. When flatfish speciation was performed, only common sole was identified. From 1990 to 2019, of all examined harbour porpoises, 0.3% (2/713) from the Baltic Sea and 5.5% (45/820) from the North Sea died due to fish entrapped in the pharynx. On the North Sea coast, the occurrence of fatal obstruction shows high yearly variations from 0 to 33.3%. Years that stand out are especially 1990 to 1992, 1995, as well as 2016. The majority of all cases generally occurred between April and July, indicating also a seasonality of cases. This study evaluates the occurrence of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of fish in two geographically separated harbour porpoise populations. Additionally, common sole is clearly identified as a potentially risky item of prey for these small ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PeerJ 8 e10160 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Odontocetes Common sole Asphyxiation Bolus death Post-mortem examination Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
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Odontocetes Common sole Asphyxiation Bolus death Post-mortem examination Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Stephanie Gross Marco Roller Holger Haslob Miguel Grilo Jan Lakemeyer Anja Reckendorf Peter Wohlsein Ursula Siebert Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea |
topic_facet |
Odontocetes Common sole Asphyxiation Bolus death Post-mortem examination Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
The evolution of a permanent separation of the upper respiratory and digestive tract is one of the adaptions cetaceans evolved for their aquatic life. Generally, it prevents odontocetes from choking on either saltwater or foreign bodies during ingestion under water. Nevertheless, several sporadic single case reports from different parts of the world show that this separation can be reversed especially by overly large items of prey. This incident can have a fatal outcome for the odontocetes. The German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein has a year-round, permanent and systematic stranding network that retrieves stranded marine mammals from its shorelines and constantly enables post-mortem examinations. In 2016, with nine affected animals, a high incidence of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) occurred during spring and early summer on the German North Sea island of Sylt. All flatfish were identified as common sole (Solea solea). A retrospective post-mortem data analysis over a 30-year period from the North and Baltic Sea revealed similar yearly and seasonally case accumulations on the same island in the 1990s as well as several single case events over the whole timespan. All cases except one were caused by flatfish. When flatfish speciation was performed, only common sole was identified. From 1990 to 2019, of all examined harbour porpoises, 0.3% (2/713) from the Baltic Sea and 5.5% (45/820) from the North Sea died due to fish entrapped in the pharynx. On the North Sea coast, the occurrence of fatal obstruction shows high yearly variations from 0 to 33.3%. Years that stand out are especially 1990 to 1992, 1995, as well as 2016. The majority of all cases generally occurred between April and July, indicating also a seasonality of cases. This study evaluates the occurrence of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of fish in two geographically separated harbour porpoise populations. Additionally, common sole is clearly identified as a potentially risky item of prey for these small ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stephanie Gross Marco Roller Holger Haslob Miguel Grilo Jan Lakemeyer Anja Reckendorf Peter Wohlsein Ursula Siebert |
author_facet |
Stephanie Gross Marco Roller Holger Haslob Miguel Grilo Jan Lakemeyer Anja Reckendorf Peter Wohlsein Ursula Siebert |
author_sort |
Stephanie Gross |
title |
Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea |
title_short |
Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea |
title_full |
Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea |
title_fullStr |
Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea |
title_sort |
spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (phocoena phocoena) in the german north sea |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10160 https://doaj.org/article/227eb9d3765a481da6145d10a1841d9e |
genre |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena |
genre_facet |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 8, p e10160 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/10160.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/10160/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.10160 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/227eb9d3765a481da6145d10a1841d9e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10160 |
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e10160 |
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1787425042468962304 |