moeflannery's Identifications

Dead adult female with hook in mouth and deep 'propeller strike' wounds on back.

INTERESTING UPDATE from CAS: "We sent your photos to an expert on wounds in pinnipeds. Below are his thoughts on the wounds: 'I think this is a white shark lesion. The spacing wound would be a lot different for a prop. It is consistent with the lesions that I see on San Miguel Island. The location and the tooth spacing are perfect. The White sharks lesions on the Island this year were way down but so were numbers of animals. I think this warm water has things all mixed up!' The photos of the CA Sea Lion that you took also show similar lesions which are also probably shark. Very interesting."