ABSTRACT
The primary goal of a necropsy is to establish cause of death. Yet, of equal importance is the opportunity to collect both samples (to archive) and data (to catalog) on subclinical diseases and life history parameters, including reproductive status, age, diet and nutritional state, anatomy, and genetics. These data can be used to establish disease patterns, document the effects of human interactions, and identify endemic and novel diseases in marine mammals. Review of necropsy findings and results from ancillary diagnostic studies can ultimately direct management strategies to mitigate factors causing disease or death. Over the last decade, there has been rapid development, refinement, and application of novel diagnostic and research modalities that have significantly advanced the recognition of specific disorders in dead marine mammals. In addition to conventional diagnostic studies of necropsy, histopathology, bacteriology, toxicology, virology, and molecular studies, incorporation of postmortem imaging investigations (by computed tomography [CT] or magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]; Moore et al. 2009; Dennison et al. 2012; see Chapter 24 ), mass spectrophotometry analysis of intravascular gas bubbles (Bernaldo de Quiros et al. 2013a and b), molecular sequencing, protocols to standardize carcass evaluation for evidence of anthropogenic interactions (Moore et al. 2013), and ultrastructural studies of ears to assess for auditory injury (Morell et al. 2015, 2017) are contributing invaluable information to marine mammal health and disease data.
