HONOLULU (KHON2) — Whale watchers are crossing their fingers for another glimpse of what could be an albino whale.
“We noticed there was a white baby with them,” stated Travis Woo, a safety diver on Iruka Hawaii Dolphin Snorkeling Tours. “My initial reaction was euphoria.”
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This particular whale species known as blackfish resides in Hawaii year round, but what divers saw on March 28 off Makaha was an extremely rare sighting, according to marine biologists.
“It’s one of four species that we call Blackfish because they’re all kind of black in color and hard to distinguish,” said Dr. Jessica Jacob, assistant professor at Hawaii Pacific University. “Based on the shape of the fin and the white lips, I would say it’s a pygmy killer whale.”
Experts said there has never been a sighting of a true albino whale of any species in Hawaii. There is however more common sightings of leucistic or lighter colored whales…