sea otter swimming in the pacific ocean
Laird Henkel, CDFW
Four California sea otters reportedly died from rare strain of parasite toxoplasma gondii, It is found primarily in wild and domestic cats and is commonly transmitted through faeces.. This is the first documented case of this severe toxoplasmosis in a marine animal and could mean that an unusually virulent strain of the parasite is circulating on land.
“Otters are really good at showing what came from land to sea,” says Melissa Miller of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.Their heavy diet of bivalves that filter water means contaminated spills T. Gondi Eggs can reach otters.
The parasite usually causes chronic infections in sea otters, but the infection rarely causes rapid death in adult sea otters, she says.
Miller and her colleagues performed necropsies on four southern sea otters (enhydra black otter) from 2020 to 2022, all found to be stuck in the rainy season of February and March. Three adult female sea otters were stranded near Big Sur in San Luis Obispo County, California. About 100 miles further north, in Santa Cruz County, a young male was found.
Sea otters were infected with parasites that spanned more tissue types than normal toxoplasma There was severe inflamed fat associated with infections, parasite presence. “As soon as I started looking through the microscope, I was like, ‘Oops,'” he says.
The researchers found that key sequences in the parasite’s DNA were a lineage reported only in a pair of mountain lions from British Columbia, Canada, in 1995 and in wild pigs from California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains about 20 years later. found to be identical. .
It’s unclear whether the male sea otter was infected in the same area as the other otters and then swam north, or whether the otter was infected elsewhere, says Chunlei Su of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. .
Miller says it’s also unclear whether the strain, called “COUG,” is as toxic to other animals as it is found in sea otters, but it has been shown to be toxic in mice, and she are concerned about other marine life. She adds that humans handling potentially infected animals need to be careful. “She should wear a pair of gloves now,” she says.
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