Violi, B., Verga, A., Jones, L. S., Calogero, G., Soldano, G., Cheeseman, T., & Wenzel, F. W. (2021).

A wanderer in the Mediterranean Sea: The case of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the West Indies. Aquatic Mammals, 47(6), 599-611.  https://doi.org/10.1578/AM.47.6.2021.599

The humpback whale is a cosmopolitan species, found in all oceans with distinct populations. This species is not common within the Mediterranean Sea and is therefore classified as a ‘visitor’ species. Occasionally, they enter through Gibraltar Strait, even if their occurrence pattern within the Mediterranean remains unknown. Herein, we document four exceptional sightings of a female and calf humpback whale within the Mediterranean Sea in 2020. A photograph of the female fluke has been compared with the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog and with the Happywhale database. The whale was identified as NA05503, first and only photographed in the north of the Dominican Republic, on February 12th, 1986. Furthermore, we described changes in body condition of the female between the first and the fourth sighting, showing a progressive emaciated state. The photographic recapture after 79 days in the North of Western Mediterranean Sea may reflect a double attempt to “find the way to North Atlantic” feeding areas and an inability to “find the way back to the ocean”. Following published and unpublished records to 2020, this is the 45^th reported sighting of humpback whales within the Mediterranean Sea and the first confirmed record of female and calf pair.