Gastric lesions in free-living sea turtles: An underestimated disease that reflects the health of the ecosystem

Abstract Free-living marine turtles are constantly exposed to aggression factors and the gastrointestinal tract is one of the main gateways of entry. The objective of this study was to identify, and describe the anatomopathological alterations in the stomach of free-living marine turtles found dead on the beaches of the Microrregiao dos Lagos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Twenty-two sea turtles were necropsied, and stomach fragments were collected, fixed, and processed routinely. The presence of gastritis, parasitism, and adaptative morphological alteration of the cells were evaluated in a microscopic analysis. Descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact test were performed. Of the samples, 59.1% had stomach hyperemia. Microscopically, gastritis was found in 86.4% of cases, parasitism in 72.7%, and adaptive morphological alteration in 59.1%. There was an association between the presence of cellular adaptive morphological alteration and chronic inflammation. This the first report to describe the adaptive morphological changes observed in the stomach cells. The chronicity of the lesions was due to continuous aggressions to the tissue, with parasitism, garbage ingestion, and environmental pollutants as possible causes. The results obtained in this study demonstrate that the chronicity of the stomach lesions is due to continuous aggressions to this tissue, and the irritating factors have environmental origin, such as parasites, garbage, and toxic pollutants, including heavy metals, which are ingested by free-living sea turtles. This article demonstrates that stomach injuries in free-living marine turtles are frequent, severe, and possibly underdiagnosed; these lesions reflect the diseased ecosystem in which those animals live.