Severe soft tissue ossification in a southern right whale Eubalaena australis

The carcass of a stranded southern right whale Eubalaena australis, discovered on the coast of Golfo Nuevo in Península Valdés, Argentina, exhibited extensive orthotopic and heterotopic ossification, osteochondroma-like lesions, and early degenerative joint disease. Extensive soft tissue ossificatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Diseases of Aquatic Organisms
Main Authors: Sala, Luciano F. La, Pozzi, Luciana M., McAloose, Denise, Kaplan, Frederick S., Shore, Eileen M., Kompanje, Erwin J. O., Sidor, Inga F., Musmeci, Luciana, Uhart, Marcela M.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Article
Argentina
Southern Right Whale
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3670425
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23269389
https://doi.org/10.3354/dao02538
Description
Summary:The carcass of a stranded southern right whale Eubalaena australis, discovered on the coast of Golfo Nuevo in Península Valdés, Argentina, exhibited extensive orthotopic and heterotopic ossification, osteochondroma-like lesions, and early degenerative joint disease. Extensive soft tissue ossification led to ankylosis of the axial skeleton in a pattern that, in many respects, appeared more similar to a disabling human genetic disorder, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), than to more common skeletal system diseases in cetaceans and other species. This is the first reported case of a FOP-like condition in a marine mammal and raises important questions about conserved mechanisms of orthotopic and heterotopic ossification in this clade.

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