Pathology of marine mammals
1997
Hartmann, M.G. (National Museum of Natural History, Leiden (Netherlands))
In this chapter, pathological findings of marine mammals are reviewed in the way they were presented at the symposium on "Marine Mammals, Seabirds and Pollution of Marine Systems" held in Liege in June 1993. As there are major differences when compared to the standard pathological examination of terrestrial mammals, special dissection techniques and some concepts of pathology applicable to populations of wild animals are discussed. While mass strandings and by-caught marine mammals mostly may be healthy to moderately diseased individuals, single strandings often are terminally affected by a range of diseases, including many secondary and tertiary complications. With regard to natural causes of death, infectious diseases prevail largely in number over findings of other nature in stranded marine mammals. A variety of selected diseases are discussed under the headings of bacteriology, mycotic diseases, virology and parasitology, including personal findings of the author in marine mammals stranded along the Dutch coast. At last, the most commonly occurring pollutants of marine ecosystems are presented and their known and estipulated effects on marine mammals are discussed. Hormonal effects of pollutants, disruption of reproductive success, effects of endocrinological organs such as the adrenal glands and immunological impairment have been attributed to pollutants affecting the marine mammals as top predators of the marine environment. In a concluding remark, the role of pollutants in recent major epizootics is evaluated by the author
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