Article (Scientific journals)
Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea
IJsseldijk, L. L.; Van Neer, A.; Deaville, R. et al.
2018In PLoS ONE, 13 (8)
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Abstract :
[en] Between the 8th January and the 25th February 2016, the largest sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event ever recorded in the North Sea occurred with 30 sperm whales stranding in five countries within six weeks. All sperm whales were immature males. Groups were stratified by size, with the smaller animals stranding in the Netherlands, and the largest in England. The majority (n = 27) of the stranded animals were necropsied and/ or sampled, allowing for an international and comprehensive investigation into this mortality event. The animals were in fair to good nutritional condition and, aside from the pathologies caused by stranding, did not exhibit significant evidence of disease or trauma. Infectious agents were found, including various parasite species, several bacterial and fungal pathogens and a novel alphaherpesvirus. In nine of the sperm whales a variety of marine litter was found. However, none of these findings were considered to have been the primary cause of the stranding event. Potential anthropogenic and environmental factors that may have caused the sperm whales to enter the North Sea were assessed. Once sperm whales enter the North Sea and head south, the water becomes progressively shallower (<40 m), making this region a global hotspot for sperm whale strandings. We conclude that the reasons for sperm whales to enter the southern North Sea are the result of complex interactions of extrinsic environmental factors. As such, these large mortality events seldom have a single ultimate cause and it is only through multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches that potentially multifactorial large-scale stranding events can be effectively investigated. © 2018 IJsseldijk et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Disciplines :
Veterinary medicine & animal health
Author, co-author :
IJsseldijk, L. L.;  Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathobiology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Van Neer, A.;  Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Büsum, Germany
Deaville, R.;  Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, United Kingdom
Begeman, L.;  Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
van de Bildt, M.;  Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
van den Brand, J. M. A.;  Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathobiology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands, Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Brownlow, A.;  Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, SRUC Veterinary Services, Inverness, United Kingdom
Czeck, R.;  Wadden Sea National Park Authority of Lower Saxony, Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Dabin, W.;  Observatoire PELAGIS, University of La Rochelle - CNRS, La Rochelle, France
Doeschate, M. T.;  Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, SRUC Veterinary Services, Inverness, United Kingdom
Herder, V.;  Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Herr, H.;  Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Büsum, Germany, CeNak, Center of Natural History, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
IJzer, J.;  Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathobiology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Jauniaux, Thierry ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de morphologie et pathologie (DMP) > Département de morphologie et pathologie (DMP)
Jensen, L. F.;  Aalborg University, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Section for Environmental Technology, Aalborg, Denmark
Jepson, P. D.;  Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, United Kingdom
Jo, W. K.;  Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses (RIZ), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Lakemeyer, J.;  Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Büsum, Germany
Lehnert, K.;  Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Büsum, Germany
Leopold, M. F.;  Wageningen Marine Research, Den Helder, Netherlands
Osterhaus, A.;  Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses (RIZ), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Perkins, M. W.;  Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, United Kingdom
Piatkowski, U.;  GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Prenger-Berninghoff, E.;  Institut für Hygiene und Infektionskrankheiten der Tiere, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Gießen, Germany
Pund, R.;  Lower Saxonian State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES), Cuxhaven, Germany
Wohlsein, P.;  Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Gröne, A.;  Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathobiology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Siebert, U.;  Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Büsum, Germany
More authors (18 more) Less
Language :
English
Title :
Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea
Publication date :
2018
Journal title :
PLoS ONE
eISSN :
1932-6203
Publisher :
Public Library of Science
Volume :
13
Issue :
8
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 28 August 2018

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