A small white whale has been filmed off the New South Wales coast, prompting questions over whether it is a rare albino whale like the famous Migaloo.
The whale was spotted by a Batemans Bay photographer, Dylan Golden, 19, who was taking pictures of a whale migration on the morning on 28 June when he spotted the mother and her calf.
Golden’s sighting follows another white whale sighting off Queensland’s coast which prompted ocean watchers to wonder if it could be Migaloo, the elusive albino humpback who has not been seen in years.
Last month scientists cautioned that the Queensland sighting might not be Migaloo – and scientists have once again raised doubt about the NSW sighting, although they say it not being an albino doesn’t make it less exciting.
What do we know about the NSW white whale?
Golden said he had been filming whales for at least two hours and was about to pack up when he spotted the mother and calf last week.
“I was just about to come back in when I saw of splash out at the end of the point,” Golden said.
He flew his drone out there and noticed the calf was “very, very, very pale”.
The photographer has been capturing the whale migration since he was 14 and says he has never seen a whale so white.
“It was really, really cool to see,” he said. “I’ve just never seen anything like it before.”
Golden said this season had been busy. He has spotted more than 100 whales already and it appears they are swimming closer to shore than the last few seasons.
Could it be an albino whale?
Olaf Meynecke, a marine scientist from Griffith University, said the young whale was probably not albino but just a few days old. Very young calves can appear white or gold because of a layer of down covering.
“Given the size and the time, I would strongly suggest that it’s a newborn that’s only maybe just two or three days old,” he said. “It doesn’t make it less exciting, it’s still really exciting to have such a small newborn out there.”
Migaloo, the only known albino humpback whale in Australia’s east coast population, was first spotted in 1991 at Byron Bay when he was estimated to be about two years old. He has been spotted occasionally in the intervening years, with the last confirmed sighting in 2020 off the coast of Port Macquarie.
In 2004 tissue samples collected from Migaloo, which is a First Nations word for “white fella”, confirmed its lack of pigmentation was due to albinism.
What about the Queensland whale?
A tourist flying over the Great Barrier Reef filmed what appeared to be a white humpback whale swimming north, as thousands of humpbacks make their annual migration from Antartica to warmer waters to breed.
“It’s clear from the footage it’s unmistakably a white whale but there is always an element of doubt, which is why we can’t confirm until we’re 100%,” said Vanessa Pirotta, a whale expert at Macquarie University.
“If it is him it would be incredible that this one iconic whale has avoided being seen for so long along one of the busiest coastlines in the world.”
Pirotta encouraged anyone else who thinks they spot Migaloo to send the information to the White Whale Research Centre.
