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Background
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first record of an enterolith from an elasmobranch. It was also a surgery where prolonged anaesthesia was required from which the shark failed to recover. However, experience suggested several improvements that should enhance postsurgical survival in future. In addition, prospective recommendations for captive management can be made including improved captive handling, accelerated diagnosis of intra-coelomic lesions including the use of ultrasonography and earlier escalation to surgery to limit clinical deterioration.
Case presentation
Reduced appetite and subsequent weight loss were observed in a 2.7-m female sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) at the SeaLife London Aquarium. The shark had been a resident in the aquarium for 12 years, where it originally arrived as a juvenile of only 1.4 m in length. There were no obvious additional clinical signs or lesions that could account for either complete food refusal or decreased food intake by the shark. The other sharks in the exhibit continued to feed normally and showed normal behaviour. A variety of fresh and frozen food items were tried with inconsistent results, with the shark either refusing food or eating large amounts of food at a single presentation. Episodes of the latter may have been partially aquarist-led because extra effort was made to feed the shark by hand whenever plans were made to capture the shark for detailed physical examination. Over a period of 18 months, separate treatments with antibiotics, NSAIDs and anabolic steroids were attempted but did not return the feeding rate to normal. The behaviour of the shark was otherwise apparently unremarkable.
As weight loss became pronounced, a large bulge could be observed in the abdomen. The mass was palpated by a diver swimming alongside the shark and was found to be round and mobile. Due to the failure of the previous treatments and the deteriorating condition of the shark, an exploratory coeliotomy under general anaesthesia was considered the best option. A transparent flexible Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sock was used by the dive team to capture the shark and transfer it to the anaesthesia tank ( Fig 1 ). Temperature in the surgery area was maintained at 25°C because elasmobranchs are poikilothermic and body temperature may affect drug interactions ( Stamper 2004 ). To further...