Blonde By Nature

On February 23rd, roughly 3 kilometers off the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, a white whale was spotted. No, that was not a typo…a white whale.

The very healthy adult male – I dub thee Moby Dick – was discovered by the research team on the vessel Oscar Dyson owned by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. The ship was on an expedition for the NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center checking out the government-protected sea lion haulout sites of the pollock fish when they spotted Moby Dick with his pod. A biologist on board, Holly Fearnbach, was able to grab her camera in time to snap this prized-photograph. “When you first looked at it, it was very white” she said Thursday.

The truth is that researchers at the National Marine Mammal Lab have heard rumours that such a creature existed near the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and Russian coast, but there was never any supporting evidence. But now, scientists can track the migratory patterns of whales based on it’s unique characteristics, naturally.

Moby Dick is not albino because he does have different colour pigmentation other than white; brown-beige-yellow flecks cover his back, but his saddlebag area is pure white. It is not uncommon to see this genetic phenomenon as is also seen in lions and in tigers but never before has this been seen in whales.

(Credit: NOAA)

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