Trauma to Juvenile Pinfish and Spot Inflicted by Submarine Detonations

Abstract

Juvenile pinfish Lagodon rhomboides and spot Leiostomus xanthurus exposed to pressure waves emanating from experimental submarine detonations exhibited both sublethal and probable antemortem trauma. Hyperemia within the swim bladder and liver, hematuria, coagulative liver necrosis, and rupture of the pancreas were the most recurrent and significant traumas evident from histopathological examination and were directly attributed to exposure to pressure waves. These traumas were probably caused by the rapid compression and expansion of the swim bladder as the impulse passed. Of these traumas, hyperemia within visceral organs and hematuria are probably sublethal. Rupture of the pancreas and coagulative liver necrosis are typically irreversible and hence probably antemortem.