Death by Octopus: Laryngeal Luxation and Asphyxiation in an Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin
- Pathology
Abstract
There are numerous reported cases of nondrowning asphyxiation due to laryngeal displacement and resultant suffocation caused by an intended prey item in various cetacean species, most involving fish species either too large to be swallowed, or whose strong dorsal spines caused them to become lodged in place, rarely with concurrent involvement of fishing gear (Hult et al. 1980, Byard et al. 2003,Watson and Gee 2005, Mignucci-Giannoni et al. 2009, Byard et al. 2010, Stolen et al. 2013, Ryan and Bolin 2014, IJsseldijk et al. 2015). A notable exception is that of two long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) that asphyxiated due to the presence of fish in their nasal cavities (IJsseldijk et al. 2015). The present case report is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first cetacean asphyxiation reported involving a cephalopod, namely an octopus; this report outlines relevant postmortem findings, and discusses the risky, but potentially rewarding, practice of predating upon octopodes.
Stephens, N., Duignan, P., Symons, J., Holyoake, C., Bejder, L., Warren, K. 2017. Death by octopus (Macroctopus maorum): Laryngeal luxation and asphyxiation in an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus). Marine Mammal Science. DOI: 10.1111/mms.12420.
Pádraig Duignan
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