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HMSRP Hawaiian Monk Seal Blood Values (Establishing hematology and serum chemistry reference ranges for wild Hawaiian Monk Seals)

Metadata Updated: March 16, 2024

Hematology and serum chemistry evaluations are essential to a patients comprehensive health exam by providing measures of organ function, blood cell volume and health status. Reference ranges have to be established to interpret that the values are within normal limits. Presently, hematology and serum chemistry results from healthy, sick and injured Hawaiian monk seals are interpreted using past studies, which were limited by small samples sizes across age classes, collected from captive Hawaiian monk seals or established using frozen samples. This study builds on previous studies in sample size, quality and demographic representation to establish blood reference ranges by using samples collected between 2004 and 2015 from wild monk seals of multiple age classes (n=65 seals; 28 adults, 18 subadults, 8 juveniles, 11 weaned pups). Samples were analyzed by a single veterinary diagnostic laboratory within 24 hours of collection from apparently healthy, free-ranging wild seals sampled opportunistically during population monitoring and research activities. Reference ranges were developed for 50 complete blood cell counts and serum chemistry parameters using the mean of the values within two standard deviations. While there are several possible approaches to establishment of reference ranges, this method was chosen to maintain consistency with those used by the veterinary diagnostic laboratory most commonly used for sample analysis. Key indices evaluated include total white blood cell count (WBC; mean- 8.145 K/uL, SD-1.73 ), red blood cell count (RBC; mean- 3.397 M/uL, SD- 0.46), hematocrit (mean- 51.56%, SD- 4.99), and total serum protein (TP; mean- 7.625g/dL, SD- 0.81). The development of comprehensive hematology and serum chemistry reference ranges for Hawaiian monk seals will enable more consistent and systematic interpretation of results, which will aid in the assessment and treatment of seals in rehabilitation and the determination of health status of seals sampled during translocation and other research/recovery activities.

Access & Use Information

License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Date February 29, 2024
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date March 16, 2024
Reference Date(s) February 27, 2018 (publication)
Frequency Of Update

Metadata Source

Harvested from NMFS PIFSC

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date February 29, 2024
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date March 16, 2024
Reference Date(s) February 27, 2018 (publication)
Responsible Party (Point of Contact, Custodian)
Contact Email
Guid gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:28698
Access Constraints Cite As: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, [Date of Access]: HMSRP Hawaiian Monk Seal Blood Values (Establishing hematology and serum chemistry reference ranges for wild Hawaiian Monk Seals) [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/28698., Access Constraints: NMFS/PIFSC, Protected Species Division, Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program Data Access, Sharing, and Dissemination Guidelines, Use Constraints: Use of data will ideally be cleared with NMFS/PIFSC, Protected Species Division.
Bbox East Long -150
Bbox North Lat 30
Bbox South Lat 10
Bbox West Long -180
Coupled Resource
Frequency Of Update
Harvest Object Id 8ddd16fc-a2e8-41d8-88dd-9c1f66b2c00d
Harvest Source Id c0beac72-5f43-4455-8c33-1b345fbc2dfe
Harvest Source Title NMFS PIFSC
Licence NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.
Lineage Statistics used to create a blood reference range for wild, healthy monk seals
Metadata Language eng
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, 10.0], [-150.0, 10.0], [-150.0, 30.0], [-180.0, 30.0], [-180.0, 10.0]]]}
Progress underDevelopment
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System
Spatial Harvester True
Temporal Extent Begin 1981-12-31

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