Australia's Favorite Rare White Humpback Spotted Off New South Wales Coast
Migaloo, is a completely all-white humpback whale and is said to be the very first completely white humpback whale. Scientists are still unsure if Migaloo is albino or leucistic, which means he is unable to "produce pigment but has colored eyes."
The name Migaloo itself means "whitefella" in a few indigenous languages.
Migaloo was first spotted in 1991, around Hervey Bay and has been monitored by scientists ever since. Due to Migaloo being too well-known and so rare, special protections have been implemented to ensure nothing happens to Australia's favorite humpback. Whale watchers have to keep at least a five-hundred meter distance or face the penalty. A penalty of a fine up to $16,500.
Yikes. They aren't messing around and honestly, that's a great thing.
A tweet predicted a Migaloo sighting that he would be by Sydney soon and even possibly reach Cape Byron around Wednesday.
If you're in Australia, be on the lookout for the rare sighting! Though, Dr. Pirotta, Macquarie University Marine Scientist, says, "Migaloo is one of around 40,000 humpback whales so essentially it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. So when people see or may have seen this individual people get really excited and start to try and predict his movements."
"Migaloo is like the rock star for the ocean world because he's showing that we should care about the ocean. But also remembering that because he's so famous we need to be aware of our actions on the water," Dr. Pirotta added.
Seems like Australia reigns up top when it comes to rare sea life!
Story via DailyMail
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The sighting is part of his annual migration from Antarctica to Queensland
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