First Record of Fibropapillomatosis in a Green Turtle Chelonia mydas from the Baja California Peninsula
- 27 October 2016
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
- Vol. 28 (4), 252-257
- https://doi.org/10.1080/08997659.2016.1223207
Abstract
Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is characterized by multiple fibroepithelial tumors in all parts of the skin and has been reported in sea turtles worldwide. Clinically infected individuals are often emaciated and anemic. In Mexico, however, there are few records of this disease. In this study of green turtles Chelonia mydas in Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California Sur (BCS), we noted one juvenile with multifocal fibropapilloma lesions on the external upper surface of its eyes and hind flippers. Light microscopy revealed hyperkeratosis, epidermal hyperplasia, dermal papillary projections, and fibroblast proliferation. Electron microscopy revealed viral particles. Biopsies of normal skin were done to determine the origin of the turtle through genetic analysis. Its mitochondrial DNA matched that of a haplotype (CMP2) from a Hawaiian green turtle population. Finding FP in a turtle captured in BCS elucidates the need for further monitoring along the west coast of Mexico. Further investigation should include testing tumors to detect and characterize any chelonid herpesviruses and explore any association with FP and other diseases that pose a health risk to other sea turtle species. Received March 26, 2016; accepted August 3, 2016 Published online October 27, 2016Keywords
This publication has 41 references indexed in Scilit:
- Composition of Hawaiian green turtle foraging aggregations: mtDNA evidence for a distinct regional populationEndangered Species Research, 2008
- GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN MARINE TURTLE FIBROPAPILLOMATOSISJournal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 2005
- Identifying critical foraging habitats of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) along the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula, MexicoAquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2005
- Thirty-year recovery trend in the once depleted Hawaiian green sea turtle stockBiological Conservation, 2004
- Monitoring green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at a coastal foraging area in Baja California, Mexico: multiple indices to describe population statusJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2003
- Pathology of Oropharyngeal Fibropapillomatosis in Green TurtlesChelonia mydasJournal of Aquatic Animal Health, 2002
- Blood Biochemistry Values of Green Turtles, Chelonia Mydas, With and Without FibropapillomatosisComparative Clinical Pathology, 2000
- Pathology of Fibropapillomatosis in Olive Ridley TurtlesLepidochelys olivaceaNesting in Costa RicaJournal of Aquatic Animal Health, 1999
- Molecular Phylogeny for Marine Turtles Based on Sequences of the ND4-Leucine tRNA and Control Regions of Mitochondrial DNAMolecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 1996
- Global Population Structure and Natural History of the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) in Terms of Matriarchal PhylogenyEvolution, 1992