Half of the body is twisted: a fin whale with a severe form of scoliosis was spotted in Spain
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In Spain, a 40-ton fin whale was spotted with a severe form of scoliosis – the cetacean’s body was severely bent and it could barely swim. The 17-meter long fin whale was swimming off the coast of Valencia when it was “caught” on camera, according to Science Alert and the Oceanographic Foundation of Valencia (Fundación Oceanogràfic de València). The ship’s captain saw the whale from afar, struggling to move, and thought that the poor animal had been caught in a fishing net. The man turned to the Civil Guard of Spain, and they turned to the oceanographers. When biologists and veterinarians arrived on the scene, they realized that the condition of the whale was not what they expected. Photo: Oceanogràfic València The foundation’s rescue team swam to the whale in a patrol boat and saw a severe curvature of the fin whale’s spine about halfway up its body, which actually changed the animal’s anatomy. Biologists had hoped to attach a beacon to the whale to monitor its condition, but a spinal defect made that impossible. “Due to the size of the whale, its presence in the open sea and its deformation, it was not possible to install a remote tracker on it to obtain more detailed data on its condition, biology and movement trajectory,” says the Oceanographic Foundation team. In a few hours, the 17-meter whale swam out to sea, away from the coast. However, scientists warn that it may reappear near the coast. The striped fin whale or striped herring is a mammal from the cetacean family, and the second longest animal in the world after the blue whale. It is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Collisions with ships are the main threat to fin whales. Scoliosis among whales, particularly striped whales, is not very common, but sometimes scientists notice such a pathology. In 2019, a dead minke whale with a twisted spine washed ashore in the Netherlands. This gave scientists the opportunity to better study the anatomical effects of scoliosis on whales. Scientists found that the minke had a spinal injury and “severe local post-traumatic scoliosis.” They hypothesized that scoliosis is a universal compensatory mechanism that can occur in response to real or perceived spinal imbalance. The whale had curves in the part of the spine that was not affected by the injury, because the animal was trying to straighten its body. In 2021, another study on scoliosis in whales appeared in the journal Nature. Scientists said that the disease in cetaceans does not develop naturally, as in humans. Most often, the cause of this ailment is an injury, for example, a collision with a ship. Currently, it is not known what caused the scoliosis in the finalist from Valencia. Read also: 5 interesting facts about whales from Ukrainian polar explorers
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