Pathology of mycotic gastritis in a wild Indian freshwater/marsh crocodile (Mugger; Crocodylus palustris): a case report

There is no report on systemic mycotic disease in wild crocodilians so far. This report describes possibly the first ever case of deep gastric mycosis in a wild Indian crocodile. A carcass of an adult female, broad snouted Indian marsh crocodile was brought for necropsy. Externally, all visible mucous membranes, eyes, cloacal opening and joints were normal. On opening the carcass, all visceral organs were found in normal position and appeared grossly normal. The stomach was empty except for the presence of a few small wooden and bony pieces, and several dark blackish patches of raised plaques on the gastric mucosa. Other areas of gastric mucosa showed diffuse congestion with petechial haemorrhages and oedema. Microscopically, gastric mucosa in plaque areas appeared extensively thickened and fibrosed with moderate infiltration of mononuclear cells. Gastric glands were atrophied due to massive fibrosis which appeared to have completely replaced the mucosal architecture in the affected area. In the superficial gastric mucosa and also deep in the fibrosed tissue, spherical to oval, variable sized, thick walled bodies, several of them budding and often forming small chains, sprouting and even germinating, giving rise to branched hyphae, were conspicuously observed. These fungal bodies were found to be PAS-positive. Species identification of the mould could not be done. The present case appears to be the first report of invasive mycotic gastritis in a wild Indian crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), most probably caused by Candida albicans.