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Scientists spot rare white killer whale in Alaskan waters

Posted Mar 08, 2008 at 03:45AM by David T. Listed in: Animals and Wildlife Tags: NOAA, Alaska
Ó

 A rare white killer whale - Image 1 A rare white killer whale - Image 1 


No, the scientists aboard the the NOAA research vessel Oscar Dyson didn't exactly sport wooden peg legs and harpoons as they searched for a great white whale, yet a white whale - a killer whale - is exactly what they found, anyway.

The scientists spotted the rare creature about two miles off Kanaga Volcano, part of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, last February 23, 2008 while on a research expedition to assess  pollock fish stocks near Steller sea lion haulout sites. Holly Fearnbach, the biologist who photographed the whale's fin and back noted how lucky the Oscar Dyson crew was: "With hundreds of killer whales documented around the Aleutian Islands, this was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack."

Few killer whales of this color, according to Fearnbach, have been seen, much less scientifically documented. Nevertheless, while it may look like an albino, it's likely that the whale may not be a true one due to the presence of darker pigmented areas on its body.

Nevertheless, scientists are currently working to confirm whether the whale that the scientists photographed had actually been reported earlier or not.

[Via NOAA Fisheries] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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