Pathology associated with retained fishing hooks in blue sharks, Prionace glauca (L.), with implications for their conservation

Fishing hooks retained from previous capture events were found in 6 of 211 blue sharks, Prionace glauca (L.), landed in the summers of 1999 and 2000 by recreational fishermen off Long Island (New York, USA). The hooks were embedded within the distal oesophagus ( n =3), or perforated the gastric wall ( n =3) and lacerated the liver ( n =2). The hooks were surrounded by excessive fibronecrotic tissue which ablated the normal anatomical structures and in the three sharks with oesophageal hooks caused partial luminal obstruction. Accompanying lesions included oesophagitis, gastritis, hepatitis and proliferative peritonitis. Aeromonas sp. and Vibrio sp. were isolated from the peritoneal fluid of one shark with peritonitis and intralesional bacteria were seen on histological examination in all sharks. This is the first report of the prevalence and pathology of retained fishing hooks in a large number of wild-caught sharks.