Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce the publication of the following paper. Apologies for cross-posting A link between male sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, of the Azores and Norway Lisa Steiner, Luca Lamoni, Marta Acosta Plata, Silje-Kristin Jensen, Erland Lettevall and Jonathan Gordon Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , page 1 of 6. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , 2012 doi:10.1017/S0025315412000793 Abstract Little is known about the movements of male sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, in the North Atlantic . Recoveries of traditional harpoons and tags during commercial whaling indicated movements from Nova Scotia to Spain and from the Azores to Iceland and Spain . We compared collections of photo-identification images from different areas using the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sperm Whale Catalogue and the Eurphlukes Phlex/Match programs. The largest collections of identified males (number of individuals, start and end date for data collection shown in parentheses) are for the Azores (297, 1987–2008), Andenes (375, 1988–1996 and 2008), Tromsø (84, 2005–2008). There were six matches between Andenes and Tromsø (25 nm), with three of these re-sighted in multiple years and three photo-identification matches from the Azores to Norway (2400 nm). In all cases individuals first photographed in the Azores (in 1993, 1999 and 2003) were matched to images collected later in Tromsø (in 2007 and 2008). In 1997 a photo-identification image from Andenes matched a male stranded on the west coast of Ireland . No matches were made to images in smaller collections from Iceland , Nova Scotia , Greenland , Dominica , Guadeloupe, Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean . These findings show the value of data collected from whale watching vessels and the importance of collaboration between groups to allow investigation on an ocean basin scale. It is hoped that with the coordinated collection of more images from around the Atlantic, further insight might be gained into the movements of these widely ranging animals. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments. Lisa Steiner Whale Watch Azores wwa2@yahoo.com