White Orca Spotted Off Alaskan Coast

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA - Capt. Ahab was nowhere in sight when scientists aboard the NOAA research vessel Oscar Dyson in the North Pacific saw and photographed a rare white killer whale, swimming with its pod about 2 miles off Kanaga Volcano.

The fish-eating Orca, spotted off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, is one of only a few white killer whales ever seen by man. “With hundreds of killer whales documented around the Aleutian Islands, this was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack,” said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist at NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who was able to photograph the Orca.

The white Orca she photographed on Feb. 23 is not believed to be a true albino, because it has a few patches of very light tan pigment on its body. At the time the whale was discovered, Fearnbach and others aboard Oscar Dyson were doing research for NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center to assess pollock fish stocks near Steller sea lion haulout sites.

“Despite the typical stormy weather that makes research operations very difficult in winter, the scientific team on Oscar Dyson has been pulling in a huge amount of planned research data,” said Alaska Fisheries Science Center director Doug DeMaster. “Extraordinary sightings like this white whale are icing on the cake.”

Source: The Log Newspaper