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. 2022 Dec 25;13(1):79.
doi: 10.3390/ani13010079.

Life History Traits of Sperm Whales Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 Stranded along Italian Coasts (Cetartiodactyla: Physeteridae)

Nicola Maio  1 , Tatiana Fioravanti  2 , Lucrezia Latini  2 , Agnese Petraccioli  1 , Marcello Mezzasalma  3 , Bruno Cozzi  4 , Sandro Mazzariol  4 , Michela Podestà  5 , Gianni Insacco  6 , Francesco Pollaro  7 , Giuseppe Lucifora  8 , Ida Ferrandino  1 , Nicola Zizzo  9 , Filippo Spadola  10 , Fulvio Garibaldi  11 , Fabio Maria Guarino  1 , Andrea Splendiani  2 , Vincenzo Caputo Barucchi  2
Affiliations

Life History Traits of Sperm Whales Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 Stranded along Italian Coasts (Cetartiodactyla: Physeteridae)

Nicola Maio et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between age and body length, and age at sexual maturity of Physeter macrocephalus individuals stranded along the Italian coast. Our molecular analysis shows that all our samples belong to the C.001.002 haplotype, shared between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations. We show that males attain sexual maturity at 10 years, similar to those from other marine areas. However, considering the same body length class, Mediterranean males are older than Atlantic ones. Our finding of a Mediterranean pregnant female of only 6.5 m in length and an assessed age of 24-26 years is particularly noteworthy, considering that females reach sexual maturity at about 9 years and 9 m of total length in other regions. Comparing our results with the literature data, we highlight the positive correlation between lifespan, adult body length and weight of males from the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. Regardless of whether the relatively small size of Mediterranean specimens is a consequence of an inbreeding depression or an adaptation to less favorable trophic conditions, we recommend to closely monitor this population from a conservation perspective. In fact, its low genetic diversity likely corresponds to a relatively limited ability to respond to environmental changes compared with other populations.

Keywords: Italian sea; age at sexual maturity; age estimation; cetacea; geographic origin; odontocetes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative composite photographs of sperm whale longitudinal, acid-etched, tooth sections. (A) ID 456, male, with number of GLGs estimated as 10. (B) ID 549, female, with number of GLGs estimated as 24–26. The filled circle indicates the start of each GLG. NL: neonatal line. AL: accessory line. Scale bar:1.5 cm in (A) e 1.4 cm in (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relationship between age and total body length in Mediterranean (open circle) and Atlantic (filled circle) male sperm whales. Linear regression equations are also showed.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Histological sections of testis of P. macrocephalus. (A) ID 174: seminiferous tubules were large with an open lumen and a complex seminiferous epithelium where spermatogonia, spermatocytes and spermatids are recognizable. (B) ID 456: seminiferous tubules were in advanced autolytic state and surrounded by abundant interstitial tissue. Scale bar: 30 µm.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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