REFERENCES 



Ashcr, W. M.. und A. K.. Freimanis. 1%^. 

 Echographic diagnosis of retroperitoneal 

 lymph node enlargement. Ultrasound scan- 

 ning technique and diagnostic findings. 

 Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Ther. Nucl. 

 Med. 105:438-445. 



Freimanis. A. K., and W. M. Asher. 1970. 

 Development of diagnostic criteria in 

 echographic study of abdominal lesions. 

 Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Ther. Nucl. 

 Med. 108:747-755. 



Grossman, C. C, J. E. Holmes. C. Jovner, 

 and E. W. Purnell (editors). 1966. Di- 

 agnostic ultrasound. Proc. First Int. Conf. 

 Univ. Pittsburgh, 1965. Plenum Press, 



New York, 5 19 p. 

 Lehman, J. S. 1969. Ultrasonography. 



Delaware Med. J. 40:24-25. 

 Okasawa, A., and L. Hakkinen. 1969. 



Comparative experiments on the attenua- 



tion of ultrasound in muscular and fat 

 tissue. Acta Aphthal (Kohenhavn) 47:735. 

 Strakova, M.. and J. Markova. 1971. Ul- 

 trasound use for measuring subcutaneous 

 fat. Rev. Czech. Med. 17:66-73. 



MFR Paper 1047. From Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 

 36, No. 4, April 1974. Copies of this paper, in limited 

 numbers, are available from D83, Technical Information 

 Division, Environmental Science Information Center, 

 NCAA. Washington. DC 20235. 



MFR PAPER 1048 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Surgical Attachment of a Telemetry Device 



to the Dorsal Ridge of a Yearling 



California Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus 



JOHN C. SWEENEY and JOEL L. MATTSSON 



ABSTRACT 



Siiri^iccil atuichiiu'iil of an instrument packufie moiiniinf^ device onto the dorsul 

 rUli;e of a yenrliiii' feinnle California i-ray whale. Eschrichtius robustus, wa.\ 

 accomplished lhroui;h the utilization of four lariie polypropylene sutures. Use 

 of polypropylene and polyester fabric meshes to induce tissue i;ronth aroutid the 

 sutures was not successful. Post-operative therapy was heneficial in iiisuriui.; 

 adequate healing at the suture sites. The original polypropylene sutures were 

 replaced the day before release by polyvinyl chloride coated stainless steel. 



INTRODUCTION 



In March 1971, an infant female 

 gray whale was captured within 

 Scammon's Lagoon, Baja California, 

 and subsequently transported by boat 

 to Sea World, Inc. in San Diego. Calif. 

 The animal was captured for research 

 purposes, and for the year following 

 her capture, various studies were un- 

 dertaken. 



As the animal approached 1 year of 

 age. the financial burden to Sea World 

 in holding facilities, personnel, and 

 food made it necessary to design a 

 plan for her release. At that time. 

 W. E. Evans, of the Naval Undersea 

 Center. San Diego, proposed (with the 

 support of the National Oceanic and 



Atmospheric Administration) that the 

 whale be released carrying a telemetry 

 device for tracking and recording. 



Evans (1971) has reported the use 

 of radiotelemetry devices attached to 

 the dorsal fin of dolphin, using a bolt 

 placed through the tin. Martin. Evans, 

 and Bowers (1971) have utilized a 

 harness for the fixation of a device 

 onto a pilot whale. A gray whale has 

 no dorsal fin for bolt fi,\ations. and 

 the growth rate of this animal left the 

 harness method undesirable. There- 

 fore, a surgical fixation was considered 

 the method of choice. 



J«»hn C. Sweeney and Joel L. 

 Maltsson are associated with the 

 Naval Undersea Center, San 

 Diego, C A 91132. 



Sutures composed of .■* mm diame- 

 ter polypropylene were swaged onto 

 a stainless steel needle made from 3 

 mm diameter rod shaped into a 10 cm 

 diameter half circle. Pohpropylene 

 was chosen because of its inert nature 

 in mammalian tissues (Usher et al., 

 1962) and because of its availability 

 in the dimensions required. Two types 

 of prosthetic mesh were used in con- 

 junction with the sutures, polypro- 

 pylene (Marlex®') mesh and polyester 

 fiber (Mersilene*-). 



Five weeks before the scheduled re- 

 lease, an attempt was made to place 

 polypropylene mesh pads (2 cm X 2 

 cm) subdermally at the entrance and 

 exit sites of the four proposed sutures 

 at positions on a longitudinal plane 

 10 cm to either side of the dorsal 

 ridge and 10 cm apart. The intention 

 was to induce collagen fiber infiltra- 

 tion within the fabric to add strength 

 to the skin and to prevent infiltration 

 of water once the sutures were in place. 

 The skin was closed with simple inter- 

 rupted nylon sutures. 



Four weeks before release the four 

 polypropylene sutures, each having 

 had a sheet of polyester fabric at- 

 tached to it using Eastman 9-10 ad- 

 hesive.'' were placed at the proposed 

 sites. Depth of penetration of the su- 

 tures was later confirmed by ultrason- 

 ography to be from 4 to 6 cm (Curran 



'Cavol. Inc., Providence. R.I. Reference to trade 

 names does not imply endorsement by the Na- 

 tional Marine Fisheries Service, NCAA 

 -Ethicon. Inc , Scmerville, N J 

 ^'Eastman Chemical Products, Kingsport, Tenn, 



20 



