Bone marrow biopsy from the flipper of a dolphin

To find macroscopically palpable bone marrow cavities in dolphins is difficult because of their extremely retrogressive limbs and pelvis and because they do not contain abundant modular cavities (as in terrestrial mammals) that can serve as sites for bone marrow biopsies. Three-dimensional computed tomography analysis of dolphin skeletons suggests that bone marrow could be harvested from the humerus and radius. In this report, post-mortem paracentesis of the humerus from a captive rough-toothed dolphin using a biopsy needle provided a marrow preparation containing myelocytes, erythroblasts and megakaryocytes. This type of bone marrow collection from the flipper might be useful for clinical diagnostic work in cetaceans.