During the evolutionary transition from land to water, cetaceans have undergone numerous critical challenges, with osmoregulation being the major one. Two subspecies of the narrow-ridged finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis), the…
Application of molecular tools for the identification of threatened marine mammals has gained importance in recent years. Though live and dead strandings of cetaceans are common along the Indian coasts,…
Social behaviors are poorly known for the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise (YFP, Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis). Here, group composition and dispersal patterns of the YFP population living in the Poyang…
Cytokines are important cell mediators involved in immune responses. Their expression can be modulated by numerous factors, including stress. The aim of this study was to compare cytokine mRNA expression…
Poxvirus infections in marine mammals have been mainly reported through their clinical lesions and electron microscopy (EM). Poxvirus particles in association with such lesions have been demonstrated by EM and…
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are rapidly becoming the population genomic markers in addressing ecology, evolution, and conservation issues for their high capacity to access variability across the genome. We isolated…
To clarify population structure of finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) in Japan, a sequence of studies have been conducted: a questionnaire survey and aerial sighting surveys to obtain information on porpoise…
Bacterial respiratory illnesses are problematic in aquatic mammals such as the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis; YFP), which is now at a critically endangered status. Yet little is known…
We identified sequences from two distantly related papillomaviruses in genital warts from two Burmeister's porpoises, including a PV antigen-positive specimen, and characterized Phocoena spinipinnis papillomavirus type 1 (PsPV-1). The PsPV-1…
In the last 60 years, incidental entanglement in fishing gears (so called by-catch) became the main cause of mortality worldwide for small cetaceans and is pushing several populations and species…