title: Severe soft tissue ossification in a southern right whale Eubalaena australis.
abstract: The carcass of a stranded southern right whale Eubalaena australis, discovered on the coast of Golfo Nuevo in Península Valdés, Argentina, exhibited extensive orthotopic and heterotopic ossification, osteochondroma-like lesions, and early degenerative joint disease. Extensive soft tissue ossification led to ankylosis of the axial skeleton in a pattern that, in many respects, appeared more similar to a disabling human genetic disorder, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), than to more common skeletal system diseases in cetaceans and other species. This is the first reported case of a FOP-like condition in a marine mammal and raises important questions about conserved mechanisms of orthotopic and heterotopic ossification in this clade.
authors.affiliation: Southern Right Whale Health Monitoring Program, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina. luciana@yahoo.com.ar
authors.forename: Luciano F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: La Sala
authors.forename: Luciana M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Pozzi
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McAloose
authors.forename: Frederick S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Shore
authors.forename: Erwin J O
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kompanje
authors.forename: Inga F
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Sidor
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Musmeci
authors.forename: Marcela M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Uhart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D009999:Ossification, Heterotopic / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D014907:Whales