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Dolphin die-off - usa: (southern coast)

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  • Dolphin die-off - usa: (southern coast)

    ***************************************
    A ProMED-mail post
    <http://www.promedmail.org>
    ProMED-mail is a program of the
    International Society for Infectious Diseases
    <http://www.isid.org>

    Date: Sun 6 Jun 2010
    Source: USA Today [edited]
    <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-06-06-dolphins_N.htm>


    Federal environmental regulators are investigating an unusually large
    number of bottlenose dolphin deaths along the northern coast of the
    Gulf of Mexico that occurred before the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon
    oil spill.

    There were 62 dolphin deaths from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle
    in March [2010] and an additional 39 in April, said Erin Fougeres, a
    marine mammal biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
    Administration (NOAA) Marine Fisheries Service. The average is 18 for
    March and 13 for April, she said.

    It's the highest number of recorded dolphin deaths in 7 years, said
    NOAA Public Affairs spokeswoman Monica Allen. For the entire Northern
    Gulf of Mexico, the combined range is 0-14 deaths a year, Allen said.
    NOAA has declared the deaths an "unusual mortality event" and ordered
    a panel of specialists to investigate them, she said.

    The deaths are being investigated as scientists study the effect on
    marine life by the oilrig explosion, which has sent millions of
    gallons of crude into the Gulf. Since 30 Apr 2010, 29 dolphins have
    washed ashore dead within the designated spill area from Texas to
    Florida, Allen said. None of them showed external signs of "oiling" or
    damage from the oil slick, she said
    . From 5000 to 6000 strandings are
    reported in the USA each year, Allen said. If not dead, the dolphins
    are injured or unable to get back to the open water, she said.

    Moby Solangi, president of the private, non-profit Institute for
    Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi, attributed this recent
    death spike to a colder than usual winter. Though the deaths in March
    and April are unusually high, he said, there is some variation in
    death rates from year to year. "Mortality is not constant," he said.

    NOAA also is monitoring a small spike in dolphin deaths in South
    Carolina, Fougeres said, as well as deaths on Florida's Atlantic
    Coast. Marine biologists at Hubbs-Sea World reported 40 deaths in
    Florida's Indian River Lagoon between Volusia and Brevard counties
    since 1 Jan 2010. The annual norm is 65.

    Seven criteria are needed for an unusual mortality event to be
    declared, said Megan Stolen, a biologist with Hubbs-Sea World. They
    include a marked increase in mortality, localization of the deaths,
    similar or unusual diseases or pathologies, and deaths accompanied by
    odd behavior.

    The Indian River Lagoon had an unusual mortality event in 2008, when
    89 bottlenose dolphins died in Brevard and Volusia. No cause was ever
    found. Although the latest lagoon deaths meet the increase in
    mortality criteria, they meet none of the others, Stolen said. The
    deaths were spread out over a large area and have no common
    pathological links, she said. "Right now, we're higher than normal,
    and everyone is concerned, but it's not fitting a pattern that
    suggests there is one cause,"
    she said.

    [Byline: Jeff Schweers]

    --
    Communicated by:
    ProMED-mail
    <promed@promedmail.org>

    [Hopefully necropsies either have been or will be performed. If they
    have been and there are no clues, this is rather alarming. Were tests
    for domoic acid and paralytic shellfish poisoning performed?
    Morbillivirus infection is another possibility.

    We know unusual weather has an effect on animals. Birds become
    disoriented, food is more or less available. Would the abnormally cold
    winter the south experienced have affected the water temperature,
    having an effect on these mammals?

    Photographs of the bottlenose dolphin may be found at
    <http://photos.travelblog.org/Photos/17776/108683/f/748619-Bottlenose-dolphin-1.jpg>
    &
    <http://site.ecfs.org/lifescience/picture$233>. - Mod.TG]
    http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?..._ID:1000,83147
    CSI:WORLD http://swineflumagazine.blogspot.com/

    treyfish2004@yahoo.com
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