California whale watchers caught a glimpse of an exquisite sight this week when they spotted a rare albino dolphin. According to Atlas Obscura, albinos animals are rare to find in the wild on land, but it’s even rarer to spot an albino sea creature.
The little albino dolphin was determined to be a 3-year-old Risso dolphin or Grampus griseus.
The pure white dolphin was seen swimming with its mother in California’s Monterey Bay on June 7 about 3 miles offshore close to Moss Landing on Princess Monterey Whale Watching trip, according to Daily Mail. He was spotted in this photo looking quite happy with his mommy and other dolphin buddies
“The highlight was seeing this juvenile albino Risso’s dolphin which appears yellow due to diatoms growing on its skin. We did some detective work to figure out if it’s the same albino calf we spotted two years ago in September of 2015,” read a post on Ocean Whale Watch’s Facebook page. “Since the albino dolphin has virtually no identifying marks besides being all white, we looked at scars and pigment on its mother’s dorsal fin from both sightings and it’s a match!”
Kate Cummings, a naturalist and the co-owner Blue Ocean Whale Watch who had previously spotted the dolphin, told Live Science that the dolphin was spotted prior to 2015 as a tiny calf in 2014.
The dolphin is reported to be in good health.
“Albinism in the wild is incredibly rare, and I believe this is the only known albino Risso’s dolphin in the eastern Pacific,” Cummings told Live Science.
Albino animals have an all white or sometimes pink appearance. This is because their cells don’t produce melanin properly or at all. Melanin is what give your skin, hair, and eyes color. Albino animals will sometimes have pink eyes because of the light that reflects off of their red blood vessels inside the dolphin’s retinas.
Melanin in the eyes of non-albino animals will absorb incoming light and prevent any reflection off of the retina.
Unfortunately, an albino dolphin’s beautiful white appearance may also indicate that they will endure some health issues.
“Albino animals may be more prone to skin problems because there’s no melanin to protect the skin from UV [ultraviolet] rays, and they can have poor eyesight and hearing,” Cummings said. “As far as we can tell, this juvenile appears healthy.”
Cummings says the dolphin was spotted swimming with its mother and about 50 other Risso dolphins, many of which were juveniles just like him, who were likely searching for a bite to eat.
“Risso’s dolphins often form nursery pods, which consist of mothers and their calves,” Cummings said. “They were most likely on the hunt for squid, their favorite food source.”
Cummings and her crew said they are hoping to see more of the albino dolphin in the future.
“Hoping we don’t have to wait years to see it again -Albi maybe it’ll stick around!” their Facebook post read. “We’ll definitely be on the lookout.”
Check out the video of the dolphin’s latest sighting below.
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