Endangered Orcas in the Pacific Northwest Are Battling a Mysterious Skin Disease

Orcas , also known as killer whales, are found throughout the world’s oceans. But these marine mammals form tightly bound communities that differ significantly from one another, with groups led by matriarchs that can live for decades. One such community is the, a population of exclusively fish-eating orcas in the Pacific Northwest.

odd lesion or skin mark on the orcas, which have sometimes lingered. But until now, no one’s tried to quantify the prevalence and incidence of these skin conditions in the population.Wednesday in PLOS-ONE, was led by researchers at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. They sifted through photos collected by the Center for Whale Research from 2004 to 2016, which cover almost 20,000 individual whale sightings.

“Before we looked at the data, we had no idea that the prevalence of these skin lesions were increasing so dramatically,” said study author Joseph Gaydos, a veterinarian and science director of the SeaDoc Society, a program at UC Davis, in a from the university. “It’s worrisome. Now we need to try and isolate the potential infectious agent.”The one bright note is that the researchers did not find a connection between the appearance of these lesions and an increased risk of dying in the orcas. But the lesions could still be harming the orcas, or they could be a sign of other problems, such as a weakening immune system. So more research will have to be done to understand the impact of these skin conditions on their health.

by the U.S. in 2005, but their numbers have continued to decline and there are now estimated to be fewer than 75 individuals still alive in the community. Human activities like pollution and the loud noise caused by boats are thought to be the largest factors in this decline.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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