diff --git a/colormipsearch-api/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/model/PublishedLMImageFields.java b/colormipsearch-api/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/model/PublishedLMImageFields.java
index 8b068b73..ec670697 100644
--- a/colormipsearch-api/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/model/PublishedLMImageFields.java
+++ b/colormipsearch-api/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/model/PublishedLMImageFields.java
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ public void setObjective(String objective) {
         this.objective = objective;
     }
 
+    public boolean hasObjective() {
+        return StringUtils.isNotBlank(objective);
+    }
+
     public String getAlignmentSpace() {
         return alignmentSpace;
     }
diff --git a/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/ColorDepthMIP.java b/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/ColorDepthMIP.java
index 9706a437..fb46c4b7 100644
--- a/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/ColorDepthMIP.java
+++ b/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/ColorDepthMIP.java
@@ -104,6 +104,10 @@ public String lmObjective() {
         return objective;
     }
 
+    public boolean hasLmObjective() {
+        return StringUtils.isNotBlank(objective);
+    }
+
     public boolean lmIsNotStaged() {
         if (sample == null) {
             // really cannot tell if the sample has been published to staging
diff --git a/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/PublishedDataGetter.java b/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/PublishedDataGetter.java
index c9bf5742..e9de4d11 100644
--- a/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/PublishedDataGetter.java
+++ b/colormipsearch-tools/src/main/java/org/janelia/colormipsearch/cmd/jacsdata/PublishedDataGetter.java
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ private PublishedLMImage findPublishedImage(ColorDepthMIP colorDepthMIP, List<Pu
             return publishedLMImages.stream()
                     .filter(pi -> pi.getAlignmentSpace().equals(colorDepthMIP.alignmentSpace) ||
                             (CollectionUtils.isNotEmpty(aliasesForAlignmentSpace) && aliasesForAlignmentSpace.contains(pi.getAlignmentSpace())))
+                    .filter(pi -> !pi.hasObjective() || !colorDepthMIP.hasLmObjective() || pi.getObjective().equals(colorDepthMIP.objective))
                     .findFirst()
                     .orElseGet(() -> {
                         LOG.warn("No published image found for {}:sample={}:as={}",