Movement of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) between the Revillagigedo and Hawaiian Archipelagos within a winter breeding season

• Published in: Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals
• Main Authors: Forestell, P. H., Urbán R., J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedad Latinoamericana de Especialistas en Mamíferos Acuáticos (SOLAMAC) 2007
• Subjects: Humpback Whale; Megaptera novaeangliae
• Online Access: https://lajamjournal.org/index.php/lajam/article/view/267; https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00113

On 5 February 1986 a humpback whale was photographed near Isla Clarión, in the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico, and again 51 days later near the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The straight-line distance between the two sightings is approximately 4700km. This resighting constitutes the only known instance in which the same humpback whale has been documented in two discretely different breeding areas within the same season. This finding reinforces the conclusion from other studies that the humpback whale aggregation of the Revillagigedo Archipelago constitutes a separate sub-population from mainland Mexico