Beautiful Rare New White Whale Spotted For The First Time Off The Coast Of New South Wales

It's not the famous albino hunchback Migaloo.

Liezel

• Published in Animals
• September 28, 2022

Have you ever heard of the humpback whale Migaloo? He's probably the most famous humpback whale out there.

And it's not because he does amazing tricks or has done heroic deeds out at sea for humans but because of his rare pure-white coloring. He was first sighted in 1991 and at that point, researchers weren't sure if he was an albino but by 2011, a study confirmed that Migaloo was a true albino.

Albinism and even leucism, which produce only partial white coloring in a whale, are extremely rare. There are likely only to be 1 in 10 000 whales to be affected by the condition.

A few years back, Migaloo was the only one known by most but now, it seems that he won't be the only whale known for its rare white coloring.

Just off the coast of Australia, another rare white humpback was spotted swimming with dolphins. And many are speculating that it might be related to Migaloo or even be his offspring.

It's definitely an amazing sight to see and whoever saw it in real life was pretty lucky. It's not every day you see a ghostly whale playing around with dolphins.

Here's the whole story on this new white humpback.

The rare sight was caught by a teen on camera

When 16-year-old Brayden Blake headed out to the beach that day at Fingal Head, Coolangatta, he only thought he'd be enjoying the waves and the warm sun. He never expected that he'd be able to witness one of the most magical sights to behold out there.

Blake, who was surfing at the time, fell off his board and that's when he heard the whale song underwater. When he returned to the beach and looked back, he spotted the incredible white whale almost 1 600 ft offshore.

He then immediately ran back home to fetch his drone to capture video footage of the rare humpback swimming with dolphins.

Many thought it was Migaloo

At first, everyone who saw the footage thought it was Migaloo. However, upon closer inspection, it turned out that it was a completely new white whale.

There's even a chance that it's Migaloo's child!

“This is the first time that I’ve been able to say that the white whale I’m looking at could be a white whale other than Migaloo,” marine expert Dr Wally Franklin told 9NEWS. “The timing of the sighting is consistent with it being a younger whale, because it’s still very early in the season…this might be a second white whale, which in itself would be quite incredible.”

Here's a footage of the famous Migaloo back in 2017 when he was spotted off the coast of Australia

Migaloo is the only known albino whale in the eastern Australia group of whales

Migaloo whose name means "white fella" in Australian indigenous terms was known as the only white whale to live off the coast of Australia. And according to Dr. Franklin, there are over 40 000 whales in that area alone.

“He[Migaloo] is the only albino whale in the eastern Australian group, which now numbers over 40,000 whales and if it’s a younger white whale, that’d only be two out of 40,000,” the marine expert said.

Watch the entire clip of the new white whale here:

“I was out for a paddle and a surf with my friend out the back … and heard this weird singing or screaming noise,” the 16-year-old said. “My heart was racing … it was just really, really cool. I was so lucky to see it.”

Whales are already amazing creatures in their own right. But add that white coloring and they become something truly magical altogether.

Whether that whale is related to Migaloo or not, we're pretty glad there's another white whale out there gracing the oceans. At least now, Migaloo won't be alone and people could appreciate their beauty a lot more.

Liezel