Tursiops truncatus Fenale 



This dclDhin stranded in Karch 1990 and was held frozen in 

 Galveston unt'il necropsy on 5 June 1990. 



GROSS NECROPSY 



EXTERNAL 



This appears to be an older dolphin with moderate tooth wear. 

 However, there is ? remarkable absence of teeth, especially In three 

 arcades (all but left upper). Crown wear in the teeth which are present 

 does not appear to justify the complete loss of so many teeth. The 

 alveolar sockets are healed, indicating that this loss was not extremely 

 recent. The abdomen is rotund and suggests pregnancy. The genital 

 groove is somewhat dilated in support of this. There are numerous light 

 gray irregular spots in the otherwise unpigmented ventral abdomen. This 

 is apparently normal coloration for this animal. There are several 

 severe and recent rake marks fairly widely distributed but very evident 

 around the genital area. Rake marks are present as well over the fluke 

 blades, some on the flippers and dorsal fins and over the dorsum 

 (especially in front of the dorsal fin caudal to the blowhole) and over 

 the tail stock. The left eyelids are scarred and the dorsal eyelid has 

 fibrotically adhered to tiie cornea. A few punctate skin lesions are 

 randomly distributed. A few Xenobalanus are attached to the trailing 

 edge of the left fluke blade near the notch. A tumor or papllloma-like 

 growth extends from the left lateral of the tongue about midway along 

 its length. The dorsal fin Is deeply notched (healed^ approximately 

 midway along the caudal edge. A few Isolated lonoituctinal scars are 

 present on the ventrum in front of the genital groove caudal to the 

 umbilicus. There is a lengthy cut with some healing penetratina the 

 epidermis at points along its course, running from the anterior 

 insertion of the left flipper up and onto the lateral thoracic wall. A 

 shorter, longitudinal scar runs parallel to this one at a distance of 

 about 6 cm. Venipuncture site on ventral keel between fluke blades 3 cm 

 deep and lies between two tendons.. 



ABDOMINAL 



An apparently full term fetus was found free In the abdominal 

 cavity wrapped in amnion. The rostrum was oriented toward, and produced 

 an indention upon, the caudal surface of the liver. The tailstock 

 curved at the caudal limits of the abdominal cavity to make "U" so that 

 the tailflukes pointed anteriorly. The body o* the uterus was ruptured 

 along an anterior line which measured approximately 22 cm. The right 

 uterine horn was slightly larger than the left and the supporting CL was 

 on the right ovary. Both ovaries containec" many corpora. The right 

 mammary gland measured approximately 1.3 an in height and 9.5 cm in 

 width; however, there was nc mtcroscopic evidence of lactation. The 

 abdominal cavity contained approximately 2-3 L of a dark reddish fluid. 

 There were no stomach contents but the stomach was 11 gated and frozen 

 for later formalin injection and use In rreparatlon of plastination 



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