Dear colleagues,

One or two humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are usually sighted every year in Madeira Island (Portugal, NE Atlantic) during their migration, and typically only during a day. This year, a whale was sighted when it was being announced in the ECS in Malta that the next conference will be held in Madeira! And until this day, a humpback whale was never identified from this waters (to my best knowledge).

I photographed the fluke during a whalewatching trip with 'Ventura | Nature Emotions', and it would be interesting to run the photograph with existing catalogues, especially from the East Atlantic, to assess if it is an identified individual and know more about this whale's histories.

Please contact me if you have a photo-id database for this species and are interested in the comparison.

Thanks and hope to see you all in Madeira in 2016,

Filipe Alves

marine biologist, PhD

CIIMAR-Madeira

Tecnopolo, Madeira, Portugal

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Conservation Unit of the Natural Park of Madeira Service

Quinta do Meio, Madeira, Portugal

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Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research

University of Porto, Portugal

Ventura | Nature Emotions

whalewatching, Madeira Island