[olderthanIusedtobe]

I spent some time on the Olympic Coast last week. There was a sea lion carcass right by Sand Point. I kinda looked it over, didn't think too much of a wound it had on it's side, til I saw the exact same wound on a live (at least at the time) sea lion I saw further south at Yellow Banks. Wound was at least silver dollar sized in diameter and about an inch deep, almost like a crater. Pretty much perfectly round. All tissue--fur, skin, fat, muscle, whatever else that should be there was completely absent. Anyone have a guess what would cause that? Certainly not a bite pattern from a shark or orca. I'm no forensics expert, didn't really look like what I would think a bullet wound would look like. Without knowing the cause of injury my guess is that it's human induced. Maybe conflicts with fishermen? I stopped in at the Ranger Station at Ozette. The Ranger had seen the carcass and was curious about the wound himself. When I told him I saw a live one with the same wound that seemed to really catch his interest.

[Schenk]

Could it be the result of the Fukushima incident? http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/illness-plaguing-seals-and-walruses-brings-disease-hunters-alaska Hope not...that would be a huge issue if it is affecting large mammals already.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Thanks for the link Schenk. Didn't look like the photo of the walrus. Only one sore rather than multiple, plus it was much deeper.

[Seventy2002]

I found a story about a dead sea lion, with similar wounds, found last month on Ediz Hook. It quotes a NOAA marine mammal specialist: “Almost perfect circular holes can form during the decomposition or during the scavenger process, and people [can] jump to conclusions or assume there's been some sort of foul play." The wounds may have been inflicted by a cookiecutter shark, Isistius brasiliensis, a species of dogfish that bites circular plugs of flesh out of anything it can sink its teeth into.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Huh. The cookie cutter is a possibility. I'd never even heard of those before, sounds like something made up but apparently not. The poor live sea lion got it basically between the eyes, the wound punctured it's nasal cavity. When it breathed I could see some fluid kinda frothing around, probably a mixture of mucous and blood. I just glanced at Granola Girl's TR again, I thought maybe we saw the same dead sea lion but it looks like she encountered several further north. I also saw a sea otter carcass. Lots of dead critters on the beach. Carcasses were almost entirely intact. With eagles, crows and gulls everywhere I would think the scavengers would clean things up fairly quickly, but maybe they can afford to be picky, lots to choose from living on the coastal strip.

[DigitalJanitor]

Just did a quick search on 'cookiecutter shark sea lion' and got a bunch of interesting hits. Ya learn somethin' new every day.... http://sharkdivers.blogspot.com/2013/01/more-dangerous-than-great-white-shark.html

http://raptureofthedeep.org/index.php/2010/10/17/scott-stevenson-cookie-cutter-shark-bite-marks/

http://elephantseals.blogspot.com/2011/11/life-on-beach.html

[Mike Collins]

I'm not swimming in salt water at night anymore http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012002/The-new-Jaws-First-documented-cookiecutter-shark-attack-live-human-worry-scientists.html

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Damn nasty little beasts, these cookiecutter sharks. I think I was happier a few hours ago when I was blissfully unaware of their existence.