Osteolytic Lesions in a Sub-Adult Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta): A Case Report

TL;DR

A sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle showed osteolytic lesions in its flippers after multiple fishery-related injuries, with potential causes including decompression sickness and bacterial infection.

Contribution

This case report provides new insights into the causes and progression of osteolytic lesions in a repeatedly bycaught loggerhead sea turtle.

Findings

Osteolytic lesions were found in the right fore and hind flippers of a sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle.

Ewingella americana was isolated from blood cultures and found to be responsive to enrofloxacin.

The lesions were potentially caused by dysbaric osteonecrosis and bacterial osteomyelitis.

Abstract

Fishery interactions are the most serious conservation risk for sea turtles. The protection of threatened species such as sea turtles is necessary to maintain an ecosystem’s resilience. With a record number of loggerhead sea turtle nests in 2023 in Spain and other Mediterranean countries, the Mediterranean basin is playing an important role in all stages of the loggerhead sea turtle’s life-cycle. Apart from the main cause of admission for rehabilitation of sea turtles, it is necessary to consider the possibility of late-stage affections causing any alteration in the normal physiology or behavior of marine turtles. Osteolytic lesions are a frequent finding during the rehabilitation of sea turtles, and the causes and consequences of them must be studied.

Osteolytic lesions in loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) during rehabilitation are attributed to multiple causes, including gas embolism, hypothermia, and osteomyelitis due to bacterial or fungal infection. This study reports the appearance of osteolytic lesions in a sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle with involvement of the right fore and hind flippers, visible swelling of the elbow and knee joints, and accompanied by lameness after 45 days of rehabilitation. Radiographs and computed tomography revealed multiple lytic bone lesions. This was the fourth rehabilitation admission of the turtle after being accidentally captured by trawler ships (bycatch) in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023. Potential causes were dysbaric osteonecrosis due to a past decompression sickness event and hypothermia with osteomyelitis from bacterial infection. Blood cultures and antibiotic susceptibility testing led to the isolation of Ewingella americana responsive to enrofloxacin. This study investigates extensive fore and hind flipper involvement in a sub-adult loggerhead turtle, aiming to determine causes and risk factors. The pathogenesis and significance of these lesions is discussed.

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