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Fishery Bulletin 100(4) 



f .: 







Figure 1 



(A) Liver: Note fibrin (f), necrotic debris (large arrow ). capsule (c), and inflammatory cells (double 

 an-owl, bar=100 nm; (B) Liver: note granulocytes (arrow), capsule (c). necrotic debris and fibrin 

 (fl, bar=50 |im; (C) Pancreas: Note large fibrous trabeculae coursing through pancreatic cells 

 (arrow), bar=100 |jm; (D) Normal pancreas from leatherback for comparison, bar=100 |im. 



1:1 although slightly skewed towards females. Given the 

 small sample size for each species, interpretation of the 

 significance of the skewed sex ratio in our sample is prob- 

 lematic. Ross (1984) noted that bias in sampling, segrega- 

 tion of sexes in different areas, and small sample size could 

 be responsible for deviations from the expected sex ratio of 

 1:1 in sea turtles. 



Whether severe lesions of the digestive system occur 

 commonly in leatherback sea turtles remains to be deter- 

 mined. Various factors can cause acute inflammation in 

 the liver, including viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and poisons 

 (Kelly, 1993); however, we saw no evidence of infectious 

 agents in our histological examinations. Pancreatic fibrosis 

 is a chronic lesion indicating earlier insult to the organ, 



secondary to infectious, toxic, or metabolic processes ( Jubb, 

 1993). Necropsies of stranded leatherback sea turtles have 

 revealed bacterial (Obendorf et al., 1987) and parasitic 

 (Threlfall, 1979) infections, degenerative joint disease (Og- 

 den et al., 1981), and struvite fecoliths (Davenport et al., 

 1993). The impact of these conditions to leatherback popu- 

 lations is unknown. Given the endangered status of East 

 Pacific leatherback sea turtles, efforts to systematically 

 evaluate health of these animals seem justified, including 

 performing systematic necropsies on fresh carcasses recov- 

 ered at sea or from nesting beaches, as well as performing 

 health assessments of live animals on nesting beaches. 



Lesions in the other species of sea turtles (olive ridlcy 

 and green) were either mild, nonspecific, or absent al- 



