The Cape Verde Islands are home to a small and genetically distinct humpback whale breeding population

The Cape Verde Islands appear to be winter breeding ground of the smallest humpback whale population yet known. However, it is unclear whether the humpback whales at the Cape Verde Islands interbreed with those in the West Indies. Here we present the results of the genetic analysis of 50 humpback whale samples collected in the Cape Verde. Each sample was genotyped at 20 microsatellite loci, the ZFY/X sex determination locus, and the nucleotide sequence in the mitochondrial control region determined. We then compared our results to similar data from humpback whales in the Barents Sea as well as the central and western North Atlantic. These comparisons revealed that the Cape Verde Islands breeding population has very limited exchange with the West Indies breeding ground. Given that surveys indicate a small number of humpback whales at the Cape Verde Islands breeding ground, this result, along with other work, argue for the implementation of effective conservation measures