Dear MARMAMMERS,

Today 24th March 2011 at 13:30 (Italian local time) an unusual sighting of a  Humpback whale in front of Savona (North of Italy) has been confirmed.

The sighting has been first reported by coastguard officials and confirmed by researchers of CIMA Research Foundation. The animal was swimming westward, not far from the coast ( 0.5 nautical miles) and it seemed in good health condition.

The whale has been sighted in an area with an intense port activity and we have alerted every coastguard office in the area in order to be aware of any other sighting.

This species is very rare in the Ligurian Sea, though another sighting occurred in this area last summer (end of August): in that case the animal was sighted for several days along Italian coasts , swimming southward.

For any further information please contact

Massimiliano Rosso massimiliano.rosso@cimafoundation.org

Paola Tepsich paola.tepsich@cimafoundation.org