Cetacean café coronary.

Area of Science:

• Marine Biology
• Veterinary Pathology
• Wildlife Toxicology

Background:

• A young adult male Indian Ocean Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops cf aduncus) carcass was discovered in an South Australian estuary.
• The autopsy indicated the cause of death was an obstruction of the upper aerodigestive tract.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the cause of death in the dolphin.
• To investigate potential underlying factors such as neurological impairment or toxicological causes.
• To explore parallels between this mammalian death and human café coronary syndrome.

Main Methods:

• Necropsy and autopsy of the dolphin carcass.
• Identification of the obstructing foreign object.
• Limited toxicological analysis of dolphin tissues for organochlorine pesticides.
• Consideration of heavy metal poisoning and neurological impairment.

Main Results:

• The obstruction was caused by a 660 mm Cobbler Carpetshark (Sutorectus tentaculatus).
• No elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides were detected.
• Heavy metal poisoning and neurological impairment were not definitively excluded due to limitations in testing.

Conclusions:

• The primary cause of death was likely asphyxiation due to choking on prey, analogous to café coronary syndrome in humans.
• While over-enthusiastic feeding is a probable cause, the possibility of underlying neurological or toxicological factors cannot be entirely ruled out.
• This case underscores the importance of considering similar mechanisms in sudden, unexplained deaths across mammalian species.