Salt gland adenitis as only cause of stranding of loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta

Abstract

The present study describes pathological and microbiological findings in 9 stranded log-gerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta, whose only observed lesion was bilateral purulent salt glandadenitis. Histological lesions ranged from the presence of abundant eosinophilic material associatedwith bacterial colonies in the lumen of the central ducts of the glandular lobules to the destruction ofthe glandular tissue and presence of abundant eosinophilic material composed of heterophils and celldebris, lined by multinucleated giant cells. Aeromonas hydrophila, Staphylococcussp., and Vibrioalginolyticuswere the bacteria most frequently isolated. Plasma concentrations of sodium and chlo-ride and plasma osmolality from 2 turtles suffering from salt gland adenitis were, respectively 45.7,69.2, and 45.7% higher than the mean value for healthy turtles. These cases suggest that failure tomaintain homeostasis due to severe lesions in the salt glands can cause stranding and/or death ofloggerhead sea turtles.