Record of a specimen of Shepherd´s Beaked Whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi) from the coast of Santa Cruz, Argentina, with notes on age determination

CRESPO, E. A.; FLORENCIA GRANDI, MARÍA; ALEJANDRO BUREN,; ANÍBAL GARCÍA, NÉSTOR; MARTÍN SVENDSEN, GUILLERMO; LAURA DANS, SILVANA

The Latin American journal of aquatic mammals

SOLAMAC

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2005 vol. 4 p. 97 - 100

1676-7497

In September 2003 a specimen of Shepherd’s beaked whale, Tasmacetus shepherdi, was found stranded on a beach close to Santa Cruz lighthouse (50º 09’ S, 68º 21’ W) in the vicinity of Puerto Punta Quilla (Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina). The specimen was determined as a male because the tusks were eroded, evidence of eruption in life (Moore, 1968). Vertebral epiphyseal fusion was complete and the pulp cavities of the teeth were filled, indicating that the animal was physically adult (Moore, 1968).Four teeth were used for age determination. The tusks were cut on a sagital and lingua-bucal medial plane, while a right mandibular tooth was sectioned sagitally. Teeth were decalcified in RDO, a commercial mixture of acids, and sectioned on a freezing microtome, at 18μm thick. Sections were stained with Mayer’s Haematoxylin and mounted with Canadian balsam (Perrin et al., 1980; Crespo et al., 1994). The reading of the cementum layers in the right mandibular tooth was 23 GLGs.