Search results for "Seals"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
Intestinal helminth fauna of the South American sea lion Otaria flavescens and fur seal Arctocephalus australis from northern Patagonia, Argentina
2012
AbstractWe report on the intestinal helminth fauna of 56 South American sea lions, Otaria flavescens, and 5 South American fur seals, Arctocephalus australis, from northern Patagonia, Argentina. A total of 97,325 helminth specimens were collected from sea lions. Gravid individuals were represented by 6 species of parasites: 1 digenean (Ascocotyle (Ascocotyle) patagoniensis), 1 cestode (Diphyllobothrium spp.), 3 nematodes (Uncinaria hamiltoni, Contracaecum ogmorhini s.s., Pseudoterranova cattani) and 1 acanthocephalan (Corynosoma australe). In addition, third-stage larvae of 2 nematodes (Contracaecum sp. and Anisakis sp. type I) and 3 juvenile acanthocephalans (Andracantha sp., Profilicollis…
When the brain goes diving: glial oxidative metabolism may confer hypoxia tolerance to the seal brain.
2009
Deep diving mammals have developed strategies to cope with limited oxygen availability when submerged. These adaptations are associated with an increased neuronal hypoxia tolerance. Brain neurons of the hooded seal Cysto- phora cristata remain much longer active in hypoxic condi- tions than those of mice. To understand the cellular basis of neuronal hypoxia tolerance, we studied neuroglobin and cy- tochrome c in C. cristata brain. Neuroglobin, a respiratory protein typically found in vertebrate neurons, displays three unique amino acid substitutions in hooded seal. However, these substitutions unlikely contribute to a modulation of O2 affinity. Moreover, there is no significant difference i…
Rod-cone based color vision in seals under photopic conditions
2016
Marine mammals have lost the ability to express S-cone opsin, and possess only one type of M/L-cone in addition to numerous rods. As they are cone monochromats they should be color blind. However, early behavioral experiments with fur seals and sea lions indicated discrimination ability between many shades of grey and blue or green. On the other hand, most recent training experiments with harbor seals under "mesopic" conditions demonstrated rod based color blindness (Scholtyssek et al., 2015). In our experiments we trained two harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) and two South African fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) with surface colors under photopic conditions. The seals had to detect a triang…
Frequency of exposure of endangered Caspian seals to Canine distemper virus, Leptospira interrogans, and Toxoplasma gondii
2017
Canine distemper virus (CDV), Leptospira interrogans, and Toxoplasma gondii are potentially lethal pathogens associated with decline in marine mammal populations. The Caspian Sea is home for the endangered Caspian seal (Pusa caspica). In the late 1990s and early 2000s, CDV caused a series of mortality events involving at least several thousand Caspian seals. To assess current infection status in Caspian seals, we surveyed for antibodies to three pathogens with potential to cause mortality in marine mammals. During 2015-2017, we tested serum samples from 36, apparently healthy, Caspian seals, accidentally caught in fishing nets in the Caspian Sea off Northern Iran, for antibodies to CDV, L. …
Establishing the relative importance of sympatric definitive hosts in the transmission of the sealworm, Pseudoterranova decipiens: a host-community a…
2001
The importance of a given host to a particular parasite can be determined according to three different criteria: host preference, host physiological suitability and host contribution to transmission. Most studies on the sealworm Pseudoterranova decipiens have focussed on the latter factor, but few attempts have been made to develop a quantitative transmission model evaluating the relative importance of each host. The purpose of this study was to propose a flow-chart model to study sealworm transmission within a seal community. The model was applied to hypothetical data of four seal species acting as definitive hosts of P. decipiens sensu stricto in eastern Canada: harp seal Phoca groenlandi…
Novel Pulmonary Vasculitis with Splendore-Hoeppli Reaction in Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) Associated with Otostrongylus circumlitus Infection.
2019
Summary Lungworm infection in seals is an important cause of morbidity and mortality, inducing bronchopneumonia and affecting population dynamics in some areas of the world. We present a series of cases of lungworm infection in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) associated with novel, significant and unusual pulmonary vascular changes. Grey seals (n = 180) that were stranded, in rehabilitation or in long-term captivity in the UK were subjected to post-mortem examination between 2012 and 2018. Lung tissue was collected from 47 individuals for histopathological examination. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on formalin-fixed and paraffin wax-embedded (FFPE) material was attempted for parasite iden…
DNA barcoding reveals different cestode helminth species in northern European marine and freshwater ringed seals
2021
Three subspecies of the ringed seal (Pusa hispida) are found in northeastern Europe: P. h. botnica in the Baltic Sea, P. h saimensis in Lake Saimaa in Finland, and P. h. ladogensis in Lake Ladoga in Russia. We investigated the poorly-known cestode helminth communities of these closely related but ecologically divergent subspecies using COI barcode data. Our results show that, while cestodes from the Baltic Sea represent Schistocephalus solidus, all worms from the two lakes are identified as Ligula intestinalis, a species that has previously not been reported from seals. The observed shift in cestode communities appears to be driven by differential availability of intermediate fish host spec…
Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers, dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and biphenyls in seals and sediment from the Gulf of Finland.
1997
Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs), 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were analyzed in seals from the Gulf of Finland and in sediments from the Gulf of Finland and near Gotland. The sediments included one surface core from both sampling sites. The seal material consisted of 14 ringed seals and 6 grey seals that all were found dead and examined for pathology. The main aims were to scrutinize levels and patterns of PCDEs for the first time in seals from the Baltic Sea and to estimate whether chlorinated compounds mentioned have an influence on an exceptional high mortality that occurred among ring…
Corynosoma acanthocephalans in their paratenic fish hosts in the northern Baltic Sea
2003
En 1996-1997, nous avons etudie les stages cystacanthes de trois especes de Corynosoma (Acanthocephala), C. strumosum et C. semerme, ainsi qu'une nouvelle espece C. magdaleni parasite du chabot a quatre cornes (Myoxocephalus quadricornis) dans le golfe de Bothnie. Les longueurs du tronc et du proboscis permettent de differencier les trois especes de parasites. La stabilite temporelle de l'infection par Corynosoma est etudiee en comparant nos resultats a ceux obtenus dans la meme zone geographique centrale et cotiere) en 1977-1982 (Valtonen, 1983a). Comme C. magdaleni et C. strumosum n'etaient pas differenciees a cette epoque, elles ont ete groupees sous l'appellation "C. strumosum" pour les…
From mammals back to birds: Host-switch of the acanthocephalan Corynosoma australe from pinnipeds to the Magellanic penguin Spheniscus magellanicus.
2017
Trophically-transmitted parasites are regularly exposed to potential new hosts through food web interactions. Successful colonization, or switching, to novel hosts, occur readily when ?donor? and ?target? hosts are phylogenetically related, whereas switching between distantly related hosts is rare and may result from stochastic factors (i.e. rare favourable mutations). This study investigates a host-switching event between a marine acanthocephalan specific to pinnipeds that is apparently able to reproduce in Magellanic penguins Spheniscus magellanicus from Brazil. Detailed analysis of morphological and morphometrical data from acanthocephalans from penguins indicates that they belong to Cor…