Dear MARMAM,

NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center has been working to complete a global genetic analysis of short-finned pilot whale taxonomy, expanding on data already generated primarily from the eastern and central Pacific, in order to resolve several taxonomic questions about the species using mitogenomes and nuclear SNPs. Our goal is to add approximately 150 mitogenomes and 100 nuclear samples to our current data set.

We have limited numbers of samples outside of the eastern Pacific, the Hawaiian Islands and the Mariana Islands, so we are looking for additional short-finned pilot whale samples from target areas. Priority areas for us are:

Southern Hemisphere
Western Pacific
Indian Ocean
Eastern Atlantic

If anyone in the MARMAM community has samples they would be willing to share, please contact us directly. In large studies like this we have many sample contributors, so in order to be fair and keep authorship lists under control, we typically offer co-authorship only when the number of samples is a substantial portion of the total, though we make exceptions for particularly important sample locations.

Thank you,
Amy Van Cise
Phil Morin
Karen Martien

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Amy Van Cise
PhD Candidate

Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Ritter Hall 117
781-686-6753

NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center
8901 La Jolla Shores Drive
858-546-5648