Peritonitis and Pericarditis Associated with Gastric Perforation by a Retained Fishing Hook in a Blue Shark

Abstract

A blue shark Prionace glauca caught in 1998 by a recreational fisherman off Long Island, New York, had a peritoneal mass involving the gastric wall and extending to the transverse pericardium. The surfaces of this mass and the adjacent gastric serosa were finely granular and dull, as were the parietal and visceral pericardia. The pericardial fluid was turbid, granular, and reddish. Sectioning the fibrous mass revealed that it had numerous foci of liquefaction necrosis and that it contained a corroded fishing hook perforating the gastric wall. Bacterial cultures from the coelomic and pericardial fluids yielded Pseudomonas putrefaciens and Corynebacterium sp. Samples from the gastric mass, transverse pericardium, and heart were examined microscopically. Histopathological findings included transmural fibrosing and necrotizing gastritis, proliferative peritonitis, and pericarditis. Intralesional bacteria and algae were found within the gastric wall and adherent to the peritoneum, pericardium, and endocardium. The low body weight of this shark was compatible with cachexia. This is the first report of a systemic debilitating disease associated with a retained fishing hook in a shark. The role of retained fishing hooks in the morbidity and mortality of large pelagic shark species needs to be examined in further studies.