Cumulative Sperm Whale Bone Damage and the Bends
Abstract
Diving mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and humans develop dysbaric osteonecrosis from end-artery nitrogen embolism ("the bends") in certain bones. Sixteen sperm whales from calves to large adults showed a size-related development of osteonecrosis in chevron and rib bone articulations, deltoid crests, and nasal bones. Occurrence in animals from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans over 111 years made a pathophysiological diagnosis of dysbarism most likely. Decompression avoidance therefore may constrain diving behavior. This suggests why some deep-diving mammals show periodic shallow-depth activity and why gas emboli are found in animals driven to surface precipitously by acoustic stressors such as mid-frequency sonar systems.
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References and Notes
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Materials and methods are available as supporting material on Science Online.
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Funded in part through a grant from NOAA Fisheries' John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Program (award no. NA03NMF4390046). WHOI contribution no. 11227.
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Published In
Science
Volume 306 | Issue 5705
24 December 2004
24 December 2004
Copyright
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 21 September 2004
Accepted: 19 October 2004
Published in print: 24 December 2004
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www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5705/2215/DC1
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- Michael J. Moore,
- Greg A. Early
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