Gillett Amber K, Ploeg Richard, Flint Mark, Mills Paul C
Vet-MARTI, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland, Australia (Gillett, Flint, Mills).
Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, Beerwah, Queensland, Australia (Gillett).
J Vet Diagn Invest. 2017 Sep;29(5):593-611. doi: 10.1177/1040638717710056. Epub 2017 May 26.
There is limited published information about disease in wild sea snakes and no standardized guideline for postmortem examination of sea snakes. Identifying causes of morbidity and mortality of marine vertebrate species has been pivotal to understanding disease factors implicated in stranding events and assisting with the formulation of conservation plans. Additionally, postmortem findings can provide valuable information on life history traits and the ecology of these reclusive species. Sick, moribund, or dead sea snakes are intermittently washed ashore along Australian and international beaches and provide an opportunity to examine a subset of the population and identify causes of population decline. We present an illustrated description of sea snake anatomy and describe a systematic approach to postmortem examination of sea snakes. We describe common pathologic conditions identified from clinical and postmortem examinations of stranded Australian sea snakes from southeast Queensland. Notable pathologic conditions include traumatic injury, inflammatory conditions, parasitic infections, and neoplasia.
关于野生海蛇疾病的已发表信息有限，且没有针对海蛇尸检的标准化指南。确定海洋脊椎动物物种发病和死亡的原因对于理解与搁浅事件相关的疾病因素以及协助制定保护计划至关重要。此外，尸检结果可以提供有关这些隐居物种的生活史特征和生态学的宝贵信息。生病、濒死或死亡的海蛇会间歇性地被冲上海滩，这些海滩分布在澳大利亚及其他国家。这为检查一部分海蛇种群并确定种群数量下降的原因提供了机会。我们提供了海蛇解剖结构的图示说明，并描述了一种系统的海蛇尸检方法。我们描述了从昆士兰东南部搁浅的澳大利亚海蛇的临床和尸检中发现的常见病理状况。值得注意的病理状况包括外伤、炎症、寄生虫感染和肿瘤。
