Malassezia dermatitis in a South American Sea Lion (Otaria byronia)

Malassezia spp. was isolated from the skin lesion of a South American Sea Lion (Otaria byronia) in South Korea. Colonies were cream to yellowish with smooth margin on Sabouraud dextrose agar without lipid supplements. Yeast cells were ovoid to cylindrical in shape and budding daughter cells from broad base. We conducted 26s rRNA sequencing to specify the strain of the yeast and found out this isolate highly matched with Malassezia pachydermatis isolated from canine otitis. The pulse therapy of oral itraconazole was very effective in this case. M. pachydermatis has a wide range of host animals but this is the first report in a sea lion in South Korea.