Thoracolumbar Kyphoscoliosis and Compression Fracture of a Thoracic Vertebra in a Captive Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

Authors: Alastair Watson; Robert J. Bahr; Joseph W. Alexander

Source: Aquatic Mammals, Volume 30, Number 2, 1 September 2004 , pp. 275-278(4)

Publisher: European Association for Aquatic Mammals

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Aquatic Mammals is sponsored by the European Association for Aquatic Mammals, the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, and the International Marine Animal's Trainer Association.

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Abstract:

A captive-born, 7-year-old male bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) suddenly acquired a dorsal hump at the cranial base of its dorsal fin. Subsequent clinical signs or swimming abnormalities were not observed and one year later it died suddenly. Necropsy revealed chronic cholangiohepatitis and lymphadenitis suggestive of a viral infection, with kyphoscoliosis centered on an old malunion compression fracture of the 12th thoracic vertebra associated with moderate bony proliferation, fusion, and lysis of this and adjacent vertebrae. Possible causes of fractures, particularly conspecific aggression, and the remarkable functional longevity of dolphins with vertebral malformations are discussed.

Keywords: BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN; TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS; THORACIC VERTEBRAE; FRACTURE; KYPHOSCOLIOSIS; NECROPSY

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1578/AM.30.2.2004.275