Date: October 24, 2016
Source: Florida Institute of
Technology
Scientists have found that a
genetic mutation in the eyes of right whales that hampers their ability to see
in bright light may make them more susceptible to fatal entanglements in
fishing gear, one of the major causes of death for this critically endangered
mammal.
The study of this whale species,
which numbers less than 500 individuals remaining in the Western Atlantic
Ocean, may also help scientists better understand how vision works in other
mammals, including people.
Florida Institute of Technology
doctoral student Lorian Schweikert and her adviser, Michael Grace, professor of
neuroscience and senior associate dean of science, worked with Jeffry Fasick,
an assistant professor of biology at the University of Tampa, to characterize
this newly discovered mutation in Northern right whales and Bowhead whales.
Their results suggest that this mutation may seriously harm the whales' ability
to visually avoid entanglement.
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