Editorial: Comparative immunology of marine mammals

Abstract

Marine mammals rank among the most charismatic creatures inhabiting our planet. Yet despite their long evolutionary history, we have a limited knowledge of their biology, ecology, and behavior, including their morphofunctional adaptations to sea life. This is also frustrating for translational studies, as gas and fat embolic syndrome, a pathologic condition of Ziphiidae (deep-diving cetaceans), mimics decompression sickness (DCS) in human divers (1). Indeed, the development of a DCS-like condition in animals living exclusively in a marine environment for such a long evolutionary history was totally unpredictable!