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Decompression syndrome and the evolution of deep diving physiology in the Cetacea

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Abstract

Whales repetitively dive deep to feed and should be susceptible to decompression syndrome, though they are not known to suffer the associated pathologies. Avascular osteonecrosis has been recognized as an indicator of diving habits of extinct marine amniotes. Vertebrae of 331 individual modern and 996 fossil whales were subjected to macroscopic and radiographic examination. Avascular osteonecrosis was found in the Oligocene basal odontocetes (Xenorophoidea) and in geologically younger mysticetes, such as Aglaocetus [a sister taxon to Balaenopteridae + (Balaenidae + Eschrichtiidae) clade]. These are considered as early “experiments” in repetitive deep diving, indicating that they independently converged on their similar specialized diving physiologies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the following people for assistance and access to specimens in their care: A. Sanders (CHM), M. Franc (FLMNH), S. MacLeod and L. Barnes (LACM), J. G. M. Thewissen (NEOUCOM), R. Purdy and D. Bohaska (NMNH), P. Gingerich and Greg Gunnell (Univ Michigan), and P. Holroyd (UCMP). We would like to thank L. D. Martin (KUNHM) for discussion during the preparation of this manuscript. Lastly, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, 11568, USA

    Brian Lee Beatty

  2. Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Bruce M. Rothschild

  3. Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Bruce M. Rothschild

  4. Arthritis Center NEO, 930 Iowa, Lawrence, KS, 66006, USA

    Bruce M. Rothschild

  5. Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, OH, 44512, USA

    Bruce M. Rothschild

  6. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Bruce M. Rothschild

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  1. Brian Lee Beatty
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Correspondence to Brian Lee Beatty.

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Beatty, B.L., Rothschild, B.M. Decompression syndrome and the evolution of deep diving physiology in the Cetacea. Naturwissenschaften 95, 793–801 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0385-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0385-9

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