First stranding record of a Cuvier

First stranding record of a Cuvier beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico

Juan Pablo Gallo-Reynoso y Edgar Mauricio Hoyos-Padilla

THERYA, 2015, 6(2): 329-336.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12933/therya-15-272

Abstract

A calf of a Cuvier beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris, was found stranded at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico where this species have been observed before. A detailed necropsy was conducted to report the plausible stranding causes. The individual was measured. The female calf was apparently a month old individual and was still suckling. Body temperature was still warm, with no pupillary reaction or artery pulse at the inner blowhole and at the fluke major arteries. The stomachs contained milk in different degradation stages (fresh to semi-digested). Necropsy of the calf did not show any plausible indication about its death, such as major wounds that indicate predation, trauma, ulcers or infections, only the presence of a small bubbling blood effusion together with some epithelial and muscle tissue masses extruding from the urogenital opening. No gas related trauma such as decompression could be confirmed due that we did not have the means to measure gas presence on epithelial tissues. The probable cause of dead was hypoxia.

Keywords

Cuvier beaked whale, calf stranding, Isla Guadalupe, Ziphius cavirostris.