New beaked whale mass stranding in Canary islands associated with naval military exercises (Majestic eagle 2004)

Abstract

Four Cuvier´s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) stranded on the Lanzarote and Fuerteventura islands. The first animal was found the 21th of July and the last one the 26th. The previous week (11th-16th July), an international naval exercise (including 10 countries) took place between the Canaries and Morocco waters. Up to now, no specific official information about naval acoustic activities has been obtained by our University. Necropsies were performed in 3 out of 4 stranded whales. The advanced autolytic conditions of the last animal did not allow us to take samples for histology. Tissue samples were processed for histology and for detecting fat embolism. The preliminary pathological results may conclude: 1) a new atypical beaked whale mass stranding temporally and spatially associated with an international naval exercise (“Majestic Eagle-2004”); 2) the three necropsied whales showed very similar macroscopical (including full stomachs with non-digested food) and histological findings to those observed in beaked whales stranded during or after the “Neotapon-2002” naval exercises; 3) gas embolism was not possible to demo nstrate due to postmortem autolysis, but all three whales showed a systemic fat embolism as it was also detected in fresh and autolytic stranded beaked whales associated with “Neotapon-2002” naval exercises.