Severe soft tissue ossification in a southern right whale (Eubalaena australis)

LA SALA, LUCIANO; POZZI, LUCIANA; MCALOOSE, DENISE; KAPLAN, FREDERICK; SHORE, EILEEN; KOMPANJE, ERWIN; SIDOR, INGA; MUSMECI, LUCIANA; UHART, MARCELA

DISEASES OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS

INTER-RESEARCH

Lugar: Oldendorf/Luhe; Año: 2012 vol. 102 p. 149 - 156

0177-5103

The carcass of a stranded Southern right whale, discovered on the coast of Golfo Nuevo in Península Valdés, Argentina, exhibited features of extensive orthotopic and heterotopic ossification, osteochondroma-like lesions, and early degenerative joint disease. Extensive soft tissue ossification led to ankylosis of the axial skeleton in a pattern that in many respects appeared more similar to a disabling human genetic disorder, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), than to more common skeletal system diseases in cetaceans and other species. This is the first reported case of a FOP-like condition in a marine mammal and raises important questions about conserved mechanisms of orthotopic and heterotopic ossification in this clade.