Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T03:02:30.146Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Ocular spirorchiidiosis in sea turtles from Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2019

H. Jerdy*
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ CEP 28013-602, Brazil
M. Werneck
Affiliation:
BW Consultoria Veterinária LTDA ME, Est. Da Praia Seca n. 12.143 (L. 41), CEP 28.970-000, Praia Seca, Araruama, RJ, Brazil
D. Goldberg
Affiliation:
Rede Rio Doce Mar - RRDM, Campus Carreiros Rio Grande, Av. Itália km 8 S/N, CEP 96203-900, RS, Brazil
P. Baldassin
Affiliation:
Serviços em Meio Ambiente, CTA, Rua Saturnino Rangel Mauro 283, Pontal de Camburi, Vitória, ES CEP 29062-030, Brazil
R. Feriolli
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ CEP 28013-602, Brazil
A. Maranho
Affiliation:
Instituto Argonauta, Estrada Guarujá Bertioga, Km 13.5, Guarujá-SP, CEP 11680-000, Brazil
R. Ribeiro
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ CEP 28013-602, Brazil
M. Bianchi
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ CEP 28013-602, Brazil
L. Ribeiro
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ CEP 28013-602, Brazil
E. Shimoda
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ CEP 28013-602, Brazil
E. Carvalho
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ CEP 28013-602, Brazil
*
Author for correspondence: H. Jerdy, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The causes of the beaching and death of sea turtles have not been fully clarified and continue to be studied. Mild, moderate and severe lesions caused by spirorchiidiosis have been seen for decades in different organs and were recently defined as the cause of death of a loggerhead turtle. In the present study, eyes and optic nerves were analysed in green sea turtles with spirorchiidiosis and no other debilitating factors. Injuries to the optic nerve and choroid layer were described in 235 animals (90%) infected with spirorchiids. Turtles with ocular spirorchiidiosis are approximately three times more likely to be cachectic than turtles with spirorchiidiosis without ocular involvement.

Type
Short Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chen, H, Kuo, RJ, Chang, TC, Hus, CK, Bray, RA and Cheng, IJ (2012) Fluke (Spirorchiidae) infections in sea turtles stranded on Taiwan: prevalence and pathology. Journal of Parasitology 98, 437439.Google Scholar
Flint, M, Patterson-Kane, JC, Limpus, CJ and Mills, PC (2010) Health surveillance of stranded green turtles in Southern Queensland, Australia (2006-2009): an epidemiological analysis of causes of disease and mortality. EcoHealth 7, 135145.Google Scholar
Glazebrook, JS, Campbell, RSF and Blair, D (1981) Pathological changes associated with cardiovascular trematodes (Digenea: Spirorchidae) in a green sea turtle Chelonia mydas (L). Journal of Comparative Pathology 91, 361368.Google Scholar
Glazebrook, JS, Campbell, RSF and Blair, D (1989) Studies on cardiovascular fluke (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) infections in sea turtles from the great barrier reef, Queensland, Australia. Journal of Comparative Pathology 101, 231250.Google Scholar
Gordon, AN, Kelly, WR and Cribb, TH (1998) Lesions caused by cardiovascular flukes (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) in stranded green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Veterinary Pathology 35, 2130.Google Scholar
Grossman, AP, Mendonça, MRC and Bellini, C (2007) Morphometrics of the green turtle at the Atol das Rocas Marine Biological reserve, Brazil. Marine Turtle Newsletter 118, 1213.Google Scholar
Jerdy, H, Ribeiro, RB, Silva, MA, Medina, RM, Werneck, MR and Carvalho, EC (2016) Spirorchiid infection in olive Ridley turtle, Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829) (Testudines: Cheloniidae), from Brazil. Journal of Parasitology 102, 290292.Google Scholar
Kotas, JE, Dos Santos, S, Azevedo, VG, Gallo, BMG and Barata, PCR (2004) Incidental capture of loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles by the pelagic longline fishery off southern Brazil. Fishery Bulletin 102, 393399.Google Scholar
Lima, EPE, Wanderlinde, J, Almeida, DT, Lopez, GG and Goldberg, DW (2012) Nesting ecology and conservation of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Chelonian Conservation & Biology 11, 249254.Google Scholar
Maggs, DJ, Miller, PE and Ofri, R (2017) Slatter's fundamentals of veterinary ophthalmology. 6th edn. Missouri, Saunders/Elsevier.Google Scholar
Marcovaldi, MA and Chaloupka, M (2007) Conservation status of the loggerhead sea turtle in Brazil: an encouraging outlook. Endangered Species Research 3, 133143.Google Scholar
Sales, G, Giffoni, BB and Barata, PCR (2008) Incidental catch of sea turtles by the Brazilian pelagic longline fishery. Journal of the Marine Biological Association 88, 853864.Google Scholar
Santoro, M, Di Nocera, F, Iaccarino, D, et al. (2017) Pathology and molecular analysis of Hapalotrema mistroides (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) infecting a Mediterranean loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 124, 1018.Google Scholar
Santoro, M, Morales, JA and Rodriguez-Ortiz, B (2007) Spirorchiidiosis (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) and lesions associated with parasites in Caribbean Green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Veterinary Record 161, 482486.Google Scholar
Santos, AJB, Freire, EMX, Bellini, C and Corso, G (2010) Body mass and the energy budget of gravid hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) during the nesting season. Journal of Herpetology 44, 352359.Google Scholar
Silva, ACCD, Castilhos, JC, Lopez, GG and Barata, PCR (2007) Nesting biology and conservation of the olive Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Brazil, 1991/1992 to 2002/2003. Journal of the Marine Biological Association 87, 10471056.Google Scholar
Stacy, BA, Foley, AM, Greiner, E, Herbst, LH, Bolten, A, Klein, P, Manire, CA and Jacobson, ER (2010) Spirorchiidiasis in stranded loggerhead Caretta caretta and green turtles Chelonia mydas in Florida (USA): host pathology and significance. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 89, 237259.Google Scholar
Thomé, JCA, Baptistotte, C, Moreira, LMP, Scalfoni, JT, Almeida, AP, Rieth, DB and Barata, PCR (2007) Nesting biology and conservation of the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, 1988–1989 to 2003–2004. Chelonian Conservation & Biology 6, 1527.Google Scholar
Walls, GL (1942) The vertebrate eye and its adaptive radiation. New York, NY, Fafner Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Werneck, MR, Souza, GB, Berger, BC et al. (2015) Pathological changes by Hapalotrema postorchis Rao 1976 (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) in a green turtle Chelonia mydas Linnaeus 1758 (Testudines, Cheloniidae) from Brazil. Helminthologia 52, 148154.Google Scholar
Wolke, RE, Brooks, R and George, A (1982) Spirorchidiasis in loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta): pathology. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 18, 175185.Google Scholar
Wyneken, J (2001) The anatomy of sea turtles. US Department of Commerce. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-470, 172.Google Scholar