W ho doesn't like baths? Dolphins like to rub against rough surfaces, nap in coral beds, and soak on sponges like guests at an underwater spa, and they definitely do.
dolphins may be getting more from their bath scrubs than just relaxation A study published today suggests that bottlenose dolphins may be self-medicating their skin ailments with the help of corals.
One of the study's lead authors said that the dolphins with particular corals don't do very well.
Dolphins have thick, smooth and resilient skin, but can be prone to skin conditions such as yeast andbacterial infections, scars or tattoo-like lesions caused by viral pox infections. Global heating seems to make these ailments worse.
A group of dolphins in the northern Red Sea have been surveyed by a team of biologists. The dolphins would rub themselves against the corals as soon as they woke up and as soon as they went to sleep, as if they were showering. The dolphins caused the corals to release mucus.
The dolphins returned to the same coral species, and appeared to be careful in choosing which parts of their body to rub. They ran lab tests on 48 samples of corals, sponges, and coral mucus, including the gorgonian coral Rumphella aggregata, the leather coral Sarcophyton sp., and the sponge Ircinia.
The results of the study showed at least 17 different compounds with different antibacterial, antioxidative and oestrogen-like hormonal properties, all of which could be useful in skin treatments.
The compounds are not commonly used in antibiotics for humans or animals, but an expanding body of research shows that some corals and sponges have therapeutic properties.
Gertrud Morlock, an analytical chemist at Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany, is a lead author of the study.
They have no other options if you think about it. What can they do if they have a skin problem?
The authors note that more research is needed to find out which coral's health benefits the dolphins, and whether these benefits have a positive impact on their health.
Learning more about the dolphin's social network could help. Sarah Powell, a former marine biologist who studies how dolphins transmit their skin diseases but was not involved in the study, said that tracking individual dolphins that display the behavior and seeing if they have fewer skin diseases or decreased mortality compared with the rest of the group would make this argument stronger.
Powell does not think dolphins would use corals and other plants in their environment for other purposes.
It is difficult to be sure that dolphins are using the corals since they are playful and love to rub.
She said that the next step would be to show that corals ignored by dolphins lack the same properties.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
