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Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 41(3), 2005, pp. 654-658
© Wildlife Disease Association  2005
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SHORT COMMUNICATION

Congenital Hemicerebral Anomaly in a Stranded Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi)

Christy A. McKnight1, Taylor L. Reynolds2, Martin Haulena1, Alexander deLahunta3 and Frances M. D. Gulland1,4

1 The Marine Mammal Center, Marin Headlands, 1065 Fort Cronkhite, Sausalito, California 94965, USA;
2 Department of Population Health and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, USA;
3 Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
4 Corresponding author (email: gullandf{at}tmmc.org)

ABSTRACT:   A stranded 5-month-old female Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) was presented displaying tachypnea and diminished lung sounds. No neurological abnormalities were noted. The animal was treated for verminous pneumonia, but died 2 wk later. Gross necropsy examination revealed a severe obstructive verminous pneumonia associated with large numbers of Otostrongylus circumlitus. In addition, the majority of the right cerebral hemisphere was absent, with hypoplasia of the left cerebellar hemisphere, absence of the right pyramid, and malformation of the right occipital bone. Histopathologic findings included multifocal thrombosis and inflammation of pulmonary arteries, verminous pneumonia, and mild vacuolation of the subependymal white matter in the third ventricle representing swelling of myelin sheaths and edema. This is the first report of a hemicerebral anomaly in a marine mammal.
  Key words:  agenesis, brain, congenital defect, hydranencephaly, Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina.






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