An extremely rare orca has been recently spotted off the coast of Japan and what catches the eyes was its unique pigmentation skin.The white orcas are pretty uncommon among this mammal species, but however, a few encounters with these rare animals have surfaced over the years.
The most recent one was captured by a sightseeing boat guide off the coastline of Hakkaido in the northeastern part of Japan. The rare mammal was filmed on July 19 at around 2:30 p.m. local time. Several minutes later, was spotted again by Erika Oki, an amateur photographer who’s also working as a guide on a Shiretoko Nature Cruise sightseeing boat.
According to the witnesses, the white orca was accompanied by some common orcas. Initially it was thought to be the same white mammal captured on camera earlier this year in approximatively the same area. After comparing the images, marine experts declared that were actually spotted two different white orcas, since they have different dorsal fin shapes and body color, the Mainichi News reported.
“The white killer whale found on July 19 is grayish and its dorsal fin is not so large,” Masato Hasegawa, a captain with Shiretoko Nature Cruise told local media. “It seems to be different from the one spotted on May 16.”
However, this isn’t the first time when a marine mammal with some unique skin color is spotted. Needless to say the most famous albino marine creature is Migaloo, a 31-year-old humpback whale who lives off the coast of Australia.