‘Rare’ white sea creature seen swimming with mom, video shows. ‘Incredibly lucky’
A white humpback whale, a seldom seen ocean dweller, recently made an appearance off the coast of Australia, video footage shows.
Photographer Chris Prestidge spotted the young marine mammal along the shores of New South Wales, located in the southeastern region of the continent.
“Incredibly lucky to see this rare sighting off the NSW coast,” Prestidge wrote on Instagram on June 29.
In a series of aerial videos he posted, the young albino whale can be seen swimming near the surface alongside its mother, occasionally breaching in order to breathe.
“Puts a smile on your face seeing the little one come up for a breath,” one commenter wrote, while another simply wrote, “WOOOOOWWW.”
It’s the first time an albino whale has been recorded offshore the country in years, according to 7News Brisbane.
Before this, the most recent sighting took place in 2020, when Migaloo — a well-known albino whale — was spotted off Port Macquarie, a city in New South Wales, according to the outlet.
“Considered to be the most famous humpback whale in the world, Migaloo may be the only pure white adult humpback whale alive today,” according to the Pacific Whale Foundation, a wildlife nonprofit.
The all-white creature, a male, was first seen off Queensland in 1991.
Albinism, which is triggered by a recessive gene, is considered extremely rare in whales, likely affecting fewer than one in 10,000 humpbacks, Erich Hoyt, a research fellow at Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), told LiveScience.
However, leucism — a separate condition — can also produce white coloration in whales, according to LiveScience, meaning not all whales with an ivory complexion are true albinos.