Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) Science Article 6
abstract
Outbreaks of morbidity and mortality in double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) along Florida’s Gulf Coast have occurred sporadically for at least 30 yr. During these outbreaks, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, located on Sanibel Island in Florida, has admitted a substantial number of cormorants with consistent presentationof primarily neurologic clinical signs. In order to investigate the association of these outbreaks in cormorants with exposure to brevetoxin, we compared the timing of admittance of cormorants with outbreak-specific clinical signs to blooms of the brevetoxin-producing marine algae, Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve), around Sanibel Island from 1995 through 1999.
Christine Kreuder et al., Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 33(1): 8-15, 2002