Codamozza-Fluker: The Compelling Case of a Flukeless Fin Whale Traveling Throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the Need for Basin-Wide Conservation Efforts.

Human-caused injuries can have severe consequences for cetaceans, both for the well-being of individuals and the effects at the population level. Here, we report the first case of a live fin whale in the Mediterranean Sea with completely amputated flukes, a female who suffered two separated incidents: the first one before 1996, when she lost her left lobe, and the second one, in 2019, leading to the severing of the whole tail and finally to presumed death. "Codamozza-Fluker" was regularly sighted during summer in the North-Western Mediterranean for 24 years. Entanglement and collision were both hypothesized as potential causes of her injuries. Without flukes, she traveled at least 7000 km across the Mediterranean, despite severe emaciation. Sighting records allowed tracking her from September 2019 to July 2020, providing rare evidence of large-scale movements within the Mediterranean over almost a year. Her journey, which extended as far as Syria, provides the first evidence of a fin whale from the Ligurian Sea being resighted in the Eastern Basin. This introduces a new perspective on this endangered subpopulation's movement patterns, which are crucial for effective conservation measures. The case gained widespread media attention, representing a dramatic example of usually unnoticed injuries or deaths, and contributed to raising public awareness, essential for driving focused conservation efforts. Her latest accident most likely occurred within the Pelagos Sanctuary for marine mammals, highlighting the need for more effective local protection measures, and underscoring the importance of complementing area-based conservation efforts with an ecosystem-based approach.