BIO 358 1st Edition Lecture 15 Outline of Last Lecture I Diving Physiology Review II Kooyman Weddell Seal Experiment a Weddell seal diving b Oxygen storage c Aerobic dive limit III Elephant Seals Outline of Current Lecture Coloring Book Instructions II History of Stranding research III Type of stranding events A Single strandings B Fishery related strandings C Mass strandings IV Mid Atlantic stranding data Current Lecture Coloring book These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute For every species color in skeletal species pages 12 22 32 and 42 Color in abbreviations and words on facing page and then color in the structure Use the same color for the structures in all of the species Choose any layer that you want and do the same thing Color in the structures and abbreviations of structures and words on facing page for ALL species You can block color the words on the facing page Osteology lab starts on Thursday Bill McLellan Lecture History Aristotle why do marine mammals end up ashore NC historically unique for marine mammal biology First curator of marine mammals at Smithsonian Fredrick True Stranding info Species Genetics Age of animals When they give birth How many babies can they have Outer banks NC 1883 True published a manual to collecting and preserving specimens of whales and porpoises State of NC has the longest history of stranding networks of the world Types of stranding events Single stranding one individual cow calf pair can be live stranded or dead beached and includes all cetacean species Mass stranding more than 2 individuals usually includes live strandings primarily odontocetes Epizootics mortality extended over time space linked with specific disease traits includes all species initiates unusual mortality response Single strandings Natural causes o o o o o o Complications with pregnancy beaked whale Mesoplodon europaeus by cape lookout Adult female stranded gas expelled a fetus As a rule a mother will give birth to a fetus that is her body length and 1 4 th her body weight TAXING situation Spike in mortality with first time moms significant mortality cause Cow Calf inseparable pair pygmy sperm whale most common live stranding in NC mom had cardio myopathy and had to be euthanized Calf generally found healthy rehabilitated Mortality due to separation from mom juvenile harbor porpoise from the bay of fundi caught in herring fishery nets In NC they are skinny and starved Graduate student looked at year old Phocena phoceana robust vs emaciated robust body mass 29 9 kg muscle mass 3 6 kg emaciated body mass 18 8 kg muscle mass 2 3kg so emaciated they strand Infanticide blood trauma of internal organs first found in 90 s you could find bites that matched bottlenose dolphin teeth in a stranded calf 2011 calf fetal folds suggest new born animal broken ribs liver torn lungs torn increased infanticide after unusual mortality event The only reason we can rule out is predation Dale dun top veterinary pathologist armed forces took the lead on publishing the first paper about infanticide Parasitic infestation brain of Tursiops truncatus with lesions from Nasitrema that came in through the ear and causes necrosis in the brain Old age ziphius cavirostris dorsal aorta enlarged with calcified plaques non elastic circulatory dysfunction cause of death Human induced Causes legal ramifications involved carcasses systematically scored for human interactions Management o Vessel strikes not often seen on small animals most commonly seen in large whales Eubalena glacialis good body condition apart from deep propeller cuts Histopathology antimortem trauma animal was alive when it was hit by the boat o o Standardized necropsy protocol securing and retrieving carcass beach equipment checklist necropsy techniques and tips conducting necropsy external observations morphometrics etc 3 pregnant females hit UNEXEPTABLE paper published and signed into a law in 2008 speed reduction plan Sunset clause it would end eventually and then it was reauthorized January 2014 and there have not been ANY SHIP STRIKES SINCE THE LAW Live humpback stranding thin with lots of whale lice Right flipper cut off Logging at surface with entanglement on peduncle unable to feed Plastic ingestion dumps trash in the ocean stomach and esophagus full of plastic and trash Gunshot wounds not seen a lot in US seen in Canada Fishery Related Strandings o o o o o Line entanglement balaenoptera byrdeii Byrde s whale not usually seen in Atlantic line cut into the top jaw of the animal disrupted the flow for effective feeding New species Cape lookout animal in the surf 2 year old wright whale entanglement from the year before live collected blood Euthanized Bend in vertebral column Vertebral column scanned disarticulated from entanglement Cassoft et al 21 baleen whale cases with chronic wounds from entanglement Hook and line ingestion Nags head NC pilot whales take the bait off of the hooks and the tuna McLellan et al 2014 investigated hook strength Some hooks cut cleanly some tore tissue All hooks wrapping around the jaw could cause breaking of the jaw Gillnet Entanglement lots of dolphins found on the beach with gillnet entanglement wounds 1999 Not a good thing for animals UNCW grad student provided link between coastal gillnet fishery and bottlenose dolphin mortality state enacted management plan mortality lowered 60 percent of bottlenose dolphins dying in NC are due to human interactions Mass strandings Why does a whole herd strand 762 false killer whales in Australia Odontocetes are social animals older animal leads animals around and makes bad decisions that leads the whole herd on the beach Sonar exposure 36 pilot whales stranded in the outer banks the navy was testing sonar off shore brain tissue hemorrhaged could be from live stranding viral bacterial or ACOUSTIC TRAUMA Cant say that is exactly what caused it Epizootics o o o o o o Influenza biotoxin distemper demoic acid poisoning biotoxins morbilivirus Chesapeake bay lots of stranded animals with lesions 667 carcasses recovered morbilivirus 1992 or biotoxin 1989 50 of bottlenose dolphin population lost listed as depleted conservation plan developed Mid Atlantic bottlenose dolphin UME 2013 2015 NY to florida Mid atlantic strandings Gulf stream and Labrador current meet in NC 250 cetacean strandings per year 28 species of cetaceans 22 species of live species