On 3 February 2011, a mass mortality of finless porpoises Neophocaena asiaeorientalis occurred at a dike of the Saemangeum Sea dike. A total of 249 carcasses were collected; these had been stranded by a sea dike and had floated into the lake formed by the dike. Eight bodies were measured, and four of these were dissected to analyze stomach contents. The blubber thicknesses of five bodies were compared with those of caught finless porpoises in the Yellow Sea from 2010. Finless porpoises at the Saemangeum Sea dike exhibited better nutritive conditions than finless porpoises in the Yellow Sea. Air temperature in January 2011 was lower than the prior 5-year average (P<0.05). Water temperature when the mass mortality occurred was lower than values observed in 2009 and 2010: values below 0°C had been recorded, and the majority of the dike lake had frozen over. The mass mortality of finless porpoises may have been caused by these unusually low temperatures.
분야
05907474.pdf 
