Search

The stranding of a suckling calf of Common Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) on the coast near Salerno (Campania, Southern Italy) is reported. The molecular analysis of a partial sequence of the mitochondrial DNA control region shows that the animal bore a haplotype identical to haplotype Ba169 considered as typical of individuals from North Atlantic population. Historical data and our results suggest the possibility that the Mediterranean Sea might be a potential calving or nursery ground for this species.

The stranding of a suckling calf of Common Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) on the coast near Salerno (Campania, Southern Italy) is reported. The molecular analysis of a partial sequence of the mitochondrial DNA control region shows that the animal bore a haplotype identical to haplotype Ba169 considered as typical of individuals from North Atlantic population. Historical data and our results suggest the possibility that the Mediterranean Sea might be a potential calving or nursery ground for this species.

In the Mediterranean basin 23 species of cetaceans are known: 11 are regular and live, breed and feed and 12 are irregular, rare or accidental. These species are common in all the oceans of the globe (cosmopolitan species) and therefore none of them is endemic. In the inshore coastal waters of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, five of the 23 Mediterranean species are regularly sighted; they are: one species of Mysticeti, the fin whale Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) (family Balaenopteridae) and four species of Odontoceti, including the sperm whale Physeter microcephalus Linnaeus, 1758 (= P. catodon) (Family Physeteridae), the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833), the Common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) and the Risso’s dolphin Grampus griseus (G. Cuvier, 1812), (the last three species belonging to the family Delphinidae). A sixth species has recently been registered for the Park boundaries, the Dwarf Sperm Whale, Kogia sima (Owen, 1866), based on finding of a dead-stranded individual within the study area. Regarding the cetofauna of the coastal waters of the Gulf of Salerno, there are other two records and they are: the long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809) and the Common Minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lacépède, 1804 (Mysticeti: Balaenopteridae). The former species is documented exclusively by bibliographical and museal data. The latter species is considered as “irregular” in Mediterranean Sea since there is no certainty that it reproduces, but it is possible that it attends this marine area for some periods of the year. This guide begins with the evolutionary history of Cetaceans. The following chapters are devoted to the general characteristics and biology of these animals, to the area of study and research methodology. It was considered interesting to include also a chapter with a brief historical overview on Cetacean researches in Campania. Then, a presentation is given for each of the species found in the Park boundaries and neighbouring, including notes on taxonomy, general description and diagnosis, notes on biology and ecology, general and local distribution, status and conservation, and some curiosities in the relationship with the man. In total the occurrence of eight species was herein documented in the survey area representing approximately the 73% of the estimated fauna of Campania Region (11 species) and about the 47% of the estimated Italian cetofauna (17 species: eight regular, four “irregular” and five occasional). The guide concludes with two chapters on recent laboratory researches on specimens from Cetofauna inhabiting coastal waters of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. The first research concerns the preliminary results of a study on age determination of individuals stranded along the Cilento coast by counting the incremental growth lines observed in the tooth sections. The other research concerns molecular analysis to determine the origins of the stranded individuals. Cetaceans are protected at international level by CITES (Appendices I and II), by the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992) on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (annex II and IV), and a lot of species are mentioned on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. At European level some species are protected by the “Barcelona Convention” on the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Mediterranean Coast (and its new Application Protocol relative to Special Protection Zones and the Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean adopted on 1995), the “Bonn Convention” on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the “Bern Convention” relative to the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, and by the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS). For these reasons the Cetaceans are protected by special laws in many countries.

Disease is an increasing threat for marine bivalves worldwide. Recently, a mass mortality event (MME) impacting the bivalve Pinna nobilis was detected across a wide geographical area of the Spanish Mediterranean Sea and linked to a haplosporidian parasite. In 2017–2018, mass mortality events affecting the pen shell Pinna nobilis were recorded in two different regions of Italy, Campania and Sicily, in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Sea). Histopathological and molecular examinations of specimens showed the presence of Haplosporidium sp. in only one specimen in one area. Conversely, in all of the surveyed moribund animals, strong inflammatory lesions at the level of connective tissue surrounding the digestive system and gonads and linked to the presence of intracellular Zhiel-Neelsen-positive bacteria were observed. Molecular analysis of all of the diseased specimens (13) confirmed the presence of a Mycobacterium. Blast analysis of the sequences from all of the areas revealed that they were grouped together with the human mycobacterium M. sherrisii close to the group including M. shigaense, M. lentiflavum and M. simiae. Based on pathological and molecular findings, it is proposed that a mycobacterial disease is associated with the mortality episodes of Pinna nobilis, indicating that, at this time, Haplosporidium sp. is not responsible for these events in Campanian and Sicilian waters.