Laryngeal Snaring by Ingested Fishing Net in a Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Off the Israeli Shoreline

Abstract

We report an unusual snaring of the larynx in an adult, female common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The dolphin was observed swimming and diving in Haifa Port, Israel, but was found dead the next day, 60 km south, on the coast. Postmortem examination revealed stranded-cordage, nylon filaments wrapped around the larynx, cutting through the soft tissue, and extending down into the forestomach, where a large mass of netting was found. The cachectic state of the dolphin and the subacute to chronic, hyper-plastic response of soft tissue surrounding the filaments lodged around the larynx, suggest a prolonged period of starvation, which led to the final weakness and wasting of the dolphin.

Mediterranean marine biodiversity under threat: Reviewing influence of marine litter on species

“…Litter ingestion (%) Levy et al (2009) of macroplastics by large predatory fishes in subsurface waters (Choy and Drazen, 2013). Again, more focus should be placed on organisms inhabiting layers other than surface waters because the magnitude and extent of litter in these areas have been underestimated worldwide.…”

Gastric Foreign Body Case in a Dolphin: Endoscopic Approach

“…The method as defined above can be beneficial in dolphins with suitable size. On the other hand, Levy et al (2009), made use of a laryngeal snare in the removal of a fishnet swallowed by a bottlenose dolphin. Greenwood et al (1978), reported that removal of foreign bodies in dolphins can be performed by using various grasping forceps pushed forward down the work channel via use of a fiberscope.…”

Resource partitioning between common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the Israeli bottom trawl fishery? Assessment by stomach contents and tissue stable isotopes analysis

“…In contrast, Arctic ground squirrels Spermophilus parryii plesius in poor and excellent body condition had similar d 15 N values (Ben-David et al, 1999) and muscle and d 13 C values did not differ between porpoises from the North Sea displaying poor, moderate and good body condition (Das, 2002). In the present study, an adult dolphin with very poor physical body condition (Levy et al, 2009) had the lowest d 15 N. As noted above, it is assumed that the majority of the sampled dolphins were healthy by-caught victims. Another potential confounding effect, the possible change of d 15 N during the decay process of a beached animal, has recently been shown not to exist (Payo-Payo et al, 2013).…”