Report of a cetacean survey in the Western Approaches of the ...

CETACEAN POSTMORTEM REPORTDolphin 8SPECIES: Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis)SEX: MaleDATE FOUND: 16/03/05LOCATION FOUND: found floating at sea by MV Esperanza, GreenpeaceNATIONAL GRID NUMBER:DATE OF POSTMORTEM: 03/05/05PATHOLOGIST: Rob Deaville1. BASIC MEASUREMENTSFROZEN: YesCARCASS CONDITION: Moderate decompositionBODY WEIGHT: 112.9kgLENGTH, GIRTH AND BLUBBER THICKNESS:-blubber thickness in front of dorsal fin:-tip upper jaw to tail notch: 211cm-girth in front of dorsal fin: 121cm-dorsal mid-line: 15mm-lateral: 15mm-ventral mid-line: 15mm2. GROSS POSTMORTEMExternal examinationNutritional state: Good.Body orifices: The left eye was intact, but the right had been pecked open.Ectoparasites: None found.Fins and flukes: Several v-shaped notches were found on the leading and trailing edges of the right tailfluke and a single v-shaped notch was found in the trailing edge of the dorsal fin. Some skin loss and slightreddening was noted on both the leading and trailing edges of the dorsal fin. A 2-3cm wide strip wasmissing from the trailing edge of the left pectoral fin, leaving a clean but irregular shaped edge. Several setsof thin linear impressions were also found on the dorsal aspect of the left pectoral fin; there seemed to betwo distinct groups, both appearing to ‘fan out’ from a point on the leading edge. Each linear impressionconsisted of two thin parallel marks that were 2mm apart and less than 1mm in diameter themselves. Mostof the right pectoral fin had been cleanly excised and some of the surrounding epidermis had been lost.Comments:This adult male common dolphin was in good nutritional condition at death and was found floating at seaby the Greenpeace ship MV Esperanza and subsequently frozen prior to post mortem examination. Anumber of findings consistent with entanglement in fishing gear (by-catch) were found on post-mortemexamination. These included cutaneous netmarks, haemorrhage in the thoracic rete mirabile and evidenceof recently ingested prey. It was not possible to ascertain which type of fishing activity may have led to theanimal’s death. No evidence to support an alternative cause of death was foundThis report is based on gross findings and may be modified after the laboratory findings are known.Laboratory results pending: virology, morbillivirus detection, histology.Rob DeavilleLondon, (20/05/05).42