HIGH-LATITUDE-AREA COMPOSITION OF HUMPBACK WHALE COMPETITIVE GROUPS IN SAMANA BAY - FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR PANMIXIS IN THE NORTH-ATLANTIC POPULATION

Competitive groups of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, were ob served in Samana Bay, Dominican Republic, West Indies. Photographs of ventral fluke patterns were used to identify individuals, and skin bio psies were taken for molecular determination of sex. Nine groups conta ined two or more whales previously identified from different high-lati tude areas. In seven groups, males from different feeding grounds were observed to compete with each other, and in six cases the group's fem ale was from a different area than at least one of her male escorts. T hese results provide further support for the hypothesis that the weste rn North Atlantic population of this species can be considered a singl e panmictic unit.