1. An Epizootic of Cutaneous Fibropapillomas in GreenTurtles Cheloniamydas of the Caribbean: Part of a Panzootic?
- Author
-
Benito Pinto-Rodriguez, Lucy Bunkley-Williams, José Vicente Rueda-Almonacid, Esther C. Peters, Antonio A. Mignucci-Giannoni, Idelisa Bonnelly de Calventi, Kathleen V. Hall, Ernest H. Williams, Jeffrey Sybesma, Robert Matos-Morales, and Ralf H. Boulon
- Subjects
Fibropapillomatosis ,Zoology ,Ozobranchus branchiatus ,Aquatic Science ,Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Digenea ,Fishery ,medicine ,Helminths ,Cheloniidae ,Turtle leech ,Panzootic ,Epizootic - Abstract
An epizootic of fibropapillomas in green turtles Chelonia mydas (Reptilia: Testudines: Cheloniidae) has occurred throughout the Caribbean since the mid-1980s. Similar epizootics in Hawaii and Florida began 5 years earlier. All may be part of a panzootic. The 125 Caribbean cases greatly expand the known range of these epizootics. All the tumors we examined had spirorchiid (Digenea) eggs. Few turtles we examined with tumors were emaciated. Additional tumors quickly erupted in some captive turtles, whereas tumors of others remained unchanged for 1 year. The turtle leech Ozobranchus branchiatus (Hirudinea: Ozobranchidae) was associated with only three green turtles with fibropapillomas.
- Published
- 1994
- Full Text
- View/download PDF