Severe soft tissue ossification in a southern right whale Eubalaena australis

• 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

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.