No abstract

Veterinary care plays an influential role in sea turtle rehabilitation, especially in endangered species. Physiological characteristics, hematological and plasma biochemistry profiles, are useful references for clinical management in animals, especially when animals are during the convalescence period. In this study, these factors associated with sea turtle surviving were analyzed. The blood samples were collected when sea turtles remained alive, and then animals were followed up for surviving status. The results indicated that significantly negative correlation was found between buoyancy disorders (BD) and sea turtle surviving (p < 0.05). Furthermore, non-surviving sea turtles had significantly higher levels of aspartate aminotranspherase (AST), creatinine kinase (CK), creatinine and uric acid (UA) than surviving sea turtles (all p < 0.05). After further analysis by multiple logistic regression model, only factors of BD, creatinine and UA were included in the equation for calculating summarized health index (SHI) for each individual. Through evaluation by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the result indicated that the area under curve was 0.920 ± 0.037, and a cut-off SHI value of 2.5244 showed 80.0% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity in predicting survival. Therefore, the developed SHI could be a useful index to evaluate health status of sea turtles and to improve veterinary care at rehabilitation facilities.

Hematology and serum biochemistry reference values are essential for health evaluation and disease diagnosis in penguins. However, there are currently no published physiological values for captive Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and Chinstrap penguins (P. antarcticus), nor for wild or captive Macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus). The present study is the first investigation regarding hematology and serum biochemistry reference values for captive Adélie, Gentoo (P. papua), Chinstrap, and Macaroni penguins in Asia. Fixed effect models for repeated measure were applied to determine the influence of penguin species, age, gender, and age-gender interaction on each blood parameter. Hematology and serum biochemical data from 122 apparently healthy penguins (24 Adélie, 38 Chinstrap, 46 Gentoo, and 14 Macaroni) were collected between 2009 and 2014. The effects of penguin species were observed for most blood parameters, except total bilirubin, creatine kinase (CK), creatinine, and potassium ion (K ). Values of mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), heterophil, ratio of heterophils to lymphocytes (H/L), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and chloride ion (Cl ) had significant positive correlation with age, while significant negative correlation with age was observed in total red blood cells (RBCs), lymphocytes, thrombocytes, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), CK, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and plasma iron. Compared to male penguins, females had lower mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) but higher calcium ion (Ca ) values. As for age-gender interaction, significant positive correlation was shown in MCHC and K , and the reverse was true in H/L ratio.

Tropical and subtropical Caulerpa species are epidemic to northern and southern Taiwan seashore. We here describe the molecular characteristics of rRNA gene, including the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) in this genus and a comparison was made with associated species sequences registered in the GenBank. A total of nine specimens (C. racemosa var. microphysa, macrophysa, peltata, laetevirens, C. serrulata and C. elongata) were investigated. Samples were collected and distinguished first from morphological characteristics. The genomic DNA was individually extracted using CTAB protocol. To amplify the 18S rRNA, ITS1, 5.8S rRNA, ITS2 and 28S rRNA sequences, a primer pair NS7 and ITS4, sequences located in nuclear rRNA region, was used. The range of 980–1100 bp DNA fragment from genomic DNA of individual plant was generated from polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Amplified fragments were sequenced automatically with ABI sequencer. The sequences were aligned with those of other Caulerpa species retrieved from the GenBank. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using Clustal method. The comparison of whole sequence and 18S rRNA and ITS1 region among these specimens shows that the interspecies divergence within C. racemosa var. microphysa, macrophysa, peltata and laetevirens is larger than those of intraspecies of C. taxifolia, C. serrulata and C. elongata. It is supposed that they (C. racemosa var. microphysa, macrophysa, peltata and laetevirens) should be in the position of different species in Caulerpa genus from the present rRNA sequences analysis. The sequences of 5.8S region are shown more conserve than that of 18S region. The identity of ITS1 and ITS2 regions in present species are low, comparing with C. taxifolia, C. maxicana.