Skin marks in Capitoline dolphins (Tiber River Estuary)

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Tiber River estuary area are also known as Capitoline dolphins. These individuals show an incidence of 97% and 70% of marks related to skin diseases and emaciation respectively, covering on average 1/3 of the body.

The results indicate that the local population is under the pressure from multiple stressors, mostly related to human activities.

Alice Turchi, Giulia Pedrazzi, Alex Mattiussi et al. Skin marks in Capitoline dolphins shed light on threats to the population at the Tiber River Estuary (Mediterranean Sea), 27 August 2024, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4814406/v1]