The Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) is an endangered marine species protected under the provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. An ophthalmic syndrome consisting of conjunctivitis, blepharism, bullous and severe bilateral corneal opacities in some captive female pups constitutes yet another threat to the survival of this endangered marine mammal. To facilitate the discovery of the etiological agent of this puzzling eye disease, 11 cell lines were established from skin, lung, heart, spleen, kidney, brain, urinary bladder, liver, and thyroid of a juvenile Hawaiian monk seal. These cell lines which have been subcultured more than 10 times (currently 10-27 passages) since their initiation in May 1997, grew optimally at 37°C in Medium 199 with a doubling time of approximately 24 hr. Growth of the monk seal cells was serum-dependent, and plating efficiencies ranged from 5-24%. Karyotyping indicated that these monk seal-derived cell lines remained diploid with a chromosome count of 34 at their early passage. These cell lines were tested for herpesvirus by polymerase chain reaction using degenerate oligonucleotide primers designed from the highly conserved region of herpesviral DNA polymerase gene and no specific detection occurred. These newly established cell lines are currently being used for the investigation of an eye disease occurring in captive monk seal pups in Oahu. Furthermore, as with the cell lines recently derived from green turtles with fibropapilloma (Figure 10), these unique cell lines from monk seals will be available for the isolation and characterization of monk seal viruses.

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Figure 10. Cell lines derived from (A) tumor tissue, (B) lung tissue and (C) heart tissue of a green turtle with fibropapilloma.