Spatiotemporal accumulation of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of flatfish in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the German North Sea.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of a permanent separation of the upper respiratory and digestive tract is one of the adaptions cetaceans evolved for their aquatic life. Generally, it prevents odontocetes from choking on either saltwater or foreign bodies during ingestion under water. Nevertheless, several sporadic single case reports from different parts of the world show that this separation can be reversed especially by overly large items of prey. This incident can have a fatal outcome for the odontocetes. The German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein has a year-round, permanent and systematic stranding network that retrieves stranded marine mammals from its shorelines and constantly enables post-mortem examinations. In 2016, with nine affected animals, a high incidence of fatal pharyngeal entrapment of

SUBMITTER: Gross S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7583609 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature