Cetacean strandings in Italy: an unusual mortality event along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in 2013

Cristina Casalone; Sandro Mazzariol; Alessandra Pautasso; Giovanni Di Guardo; Fabio Di Nocera; Giuseppe Lucifora; Ciriaco Ligios; Alessia Franco; Gianluca Fichi; Cristiano Cocumelli; Antonella Cersini; Annalisa Guercio; Roberto Puleio; Maria Goria; Michela Podestà; Letizia Marsili; Gianni Pavan; Antonio Pintore; Esterina De Carlo; Claudia Eleni; Santo Caracappa

doi:10.3354/dao02726

DAO

Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

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DAO 109:81-86 (2014) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao02726

NOTE
Cetacean strandings in Italy: an unusual mortality event along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in 2013

Cristina Casalone^1,*, Sandro Mazzariol², Alessandra Pautasso¹, Giovanni Di Guardo³, Fabio Di Nocera⁴, Giuseppe Lucifora⁴, Ciriaco Ligios⁵, Alessia Franco⁶, Gianluca Fichi⁶, Cristiano Cocumelli⁶, Antonella Cersini⁶, Annalisa Guercio⁷, Roberto Puleio⁷, Maria Goria¹, Michela Podestà⁸, Letizia Marsili⁹, Gianni Pavan¹⁰, Antonio Pintore⁵, Esterina De Carlo⁴, Claudia Eleni⁶, Santo Caracappa⁷

¹IZS Piemonte Liguria Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna, 148,10154 Torino, Italy
²Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, Viale dell’Università 16, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
³Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45,64100 Teramo, Italy
⁴IZS Mezzogiorno, Via delle Calabrie 27,84132 Salerno, Italy
⁵IZS Sardegna, Duca degli Abruzzi 8,07100 Sassari, Italy
⁶IZS Lazio Toscana, Via Appia Nuova, 1411,00178 Rome, Italy
⁷IZS Sicilia, Via G. Marinuzzi, 9,90129 Palermo, Italy
⁸Vertebrate Zoology Department, Museum of Natural History of Milan, C.so Venezia 55, 20121 Milano, Italy
⁹Department of Earth, Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy
¹⁰CIBRA, Centro Interdisciplinare di Bioacustica e Ricerche Ambientali, Dept. of Earth and Environment Sciences, Università di Pavia, Via Taramelli 24, 27100 Pavia, Italy

*Corresponding author: cristina.casalone@izsto.it

ABSTRACT: An unusual mortality event involving cetaceans, mainly striped dolphins Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833), occurred along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast of Italy during the first 3 mo of 2013. Based on post-mortem analyses carried out according to body condition on 66 dolphins (54% of stranded animals), several hypotheses to explain the causes of this mortality event were proposed. Although no definitive conclusions can be drawn, dolphin morbillivirus was deemed the most likely cause, although other infectious agents (including Photobacterium damselae damselae and herpesvirus) or environmental factors may also have contributed to this recent mortality event.

KEY WORDS: Cetacean · Unusual mortality event · Dolphin · Morbillivirus · Marine mammal · Stranding

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Cite this article as: Casalone C, Mazzariol S, Pautasso A, Di Guardo G and others (2014) Cetacean strandings in Italy: an unusual mortality event along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in 2013. Dis Aquat Org 109:81-86. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao02726

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DAO 109:81-86 (2014) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao02726

NOTE Cetacean strandings in Italy: an unusual mortality event along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in 2013

NOTE
Cetacean strandings in Italy: an unusual mortality event along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in 2013