Shanebeck Kyle M, Lakemeyer Jan, Siebert Ursula, Lehnert Kristina
Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation, Werftstr. 6, 25761 Büsum, Germany.
Dis Aquat Organ. 2020 Jan 30;137(3):239-246. doi: 10.3354/dao03442.
Infectious disease is a major cause of mortality for sea otters Enhydra lutris, a keystone species of continued concern for conservationists. Parasitic infection has long been identified as a cause of mortality in otters in both Alaska and California, USA. Corynosoma enhydri (Acanthocephala) is the only parasite that uses sea otters as its primary definitive host and is highly prevalent in otter populations; however, it is generally considered unimportant both pathologically and ecologically, although this assumption is based on limited empirical knowledge. Research has instead focused on Profilicollis infections (P. major, P. kenti, P. altmani) as a significant source of otter mortality due to associated enteritis and peritonitis, which are threats to otter health. Here we describe acanthocephalan infections in sea otters by Profilicollis spp. and C. enhydri, from a survey comparing C. enhydri infections between northern sea otters E. lutris kenyoni (n = 12) and southern sea otters E. lutris nereis (n = 19). We report a novel infection of C. enhydri in a pup approximately 1 mo of age, which shows that the early introduction to solid food at around 3 wk by their mothers may lead to subsequent infection via infected prey items. We also document the first 2 known cases of Profilicollis infection in northern sea otters, which may present an unknown threat to the Alaskan population, or may be an interesting example of accidental infection.
传染病是海獭（Enhydra lutris）死亡的主要原因，海獭是一种备受保护主义者持续关注的关键物种。长期以来，寄生虫感染一直被认为是美国阿拉斯加和加利福尼亚州海獭死亡的一个原因。海獭似茎吻虫（Corynosoma enhydri，棘头虫纲）是唯一一种以海獭作为其主要终宿主的寄生虫，在海獭种群中高度流行；然而，尽管这一假设基于有限的实证知识，但它在病理和生态方面通常被认为并不重要。相反，研究集中在对茎吻虫属感染（P. major、P. kenti、P. altmani）上，认为这是海獭死亡的一个重要原因，因为相关的肠炎和腹膜炎会威胁海獭健康。在此，我们通过一项比较北海獭（E. lutris kenyoni，n = 12）和南海獭（E. lutris nereis，n = 19）之间海獭似茎吻虫感染情况的调查，描述了茎吻虫属物种和海獭似茎吻虫对海獭的棘头虫感染。我们报告了一例约1月龄幼崽感染海獭似茎吻虫的新病例，这表明其母亲在大约3周时过早给幼崽喂食固体食物，可能会导致幼崽随后通过受感染的猎物而受到感染。我们还记录了北海獭中已知的首例两例茎吻虫属感染病例，这可能对阿拉斯加种群构成未知威胁，或者可能是意外感染的一个有趣例子。
