So today I went to Friday Harbor Labs, a place that holds many memories for me as I was a student there 5 yrs ago, for a California Sea Lion necropsy. The lion had been observed 2 weeks ago and believed that this was the one that washed up for pick up. Dr. Joe Gaydos, with the SeaDoc Society and our marine mammal vet, came over to open it up. It wasn't very productive as even a thin layer of blubber causes the animal to cook and become very decomposed inside with in a few days at our current temperatures. So once he opened him up it was obvious that samples couldn't be taken. (There will be pictures at the very end of the blog so that people who want to read but don't want to look at the grottiest pictures can). Dr. Joe took a piece of the mandible, the lower jaw, out and looked at his teeth. There was only one still in the socket and it was a canine, it had recently erupted and was only about 1/2 way out of the jaw, which can be used to age the lion, but no one knew off the top of their head. The root in the jaw is roughly equivalent to the length of the tooth protruding out of the gum. So that is about 3 inches, and it was only about 1 to 1 1/2 inches out of the jaw. The body had started to be scavenged- the orifices are what are gone after first, so there was scavenging by the wound on the left shoulder, the penile slit and near the anus. The head, by a means we don't know (maybe being slammed into rocks by waves) was only about 1/2 there.
After the necropsy I headed out to center b/c Shona had brought some Rhubarb in for me and once again I forgot to take it with me so I picked it up and headed to town. Getting close to town in the San Juan Valley marshes I watched a few violet-green swallows bug snatching right over the water it was really cool. I also saw my first barn swallow at the docks at the labs!! That is the true sign for us, spring is upon us and baby season is gonna start slamming.
Safe photos:
At FHL they have a Finn Whale vertebrate. I have wanted to take a picture of it for awhile but generally don't have my camera when I pick up Dr. Joe for his weekly summer visits to Wolf Hollow.
Who needs grass when you have this out your back patio. lol... hey it means I can help feed the bunnies!
Okay now for pictures... again I will leave some space so you a reader who may not want to see them, have a chance to get away from this page before seeing them. For the rest, if only there were smell-a-nets b/c you will see by faces in the pictures this didn't smell to pleasant.
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Our first intern of the year, looks at the Cali Sea Lion. Note the head gone and scavenge marks.
The mark placed for the SJMMSN, San Juan Marine Mammal Stranding Network, for their records.. this is the 9th marine mammal of the year.
A look at the Cali after cut open & the decision made not to take samples.
Moving the Sea Lion into the necropsy table.
Dr. Gaydos talks about the growth of the teeth.
Joe pulls the mandible out of the open face
Joe's face is priceless, he has to be in there while everyone else stands back. He is holding the liver which is covered with bacteria that starts the decomp process.
Joe starts to remove the skull
So yeah.. the gross parts of a necropsy that not much information can be taken b/c of decomp. Hopefully there is another one soon where information can be gathered.
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