Özet:

The Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus (Hermann, 1779), is an endangered species according to International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Therefore it is of high importance to monitor mortality/survival of all individuals to ensure the sustainability of the population. Eighteen monk seals were found dead on the Turkish coasts of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas between February 2012 and April 2018. This paper reviews those strandings during the seven-year period with the preliminary necropsy findings of three new records; a female pup found in Antalya on 25 November 2017, an adult female found in Muğla on 7 March 2018, and an adult female stranded on 16 April 2018 on the coast of İzmir. There are various illness causes, virological, parasitological, or microbiological, which effect monk seals, thus systematic necropsies must be performed as soon as possible on carcasses.

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