#Rare albino humpback named Migaloo spotted in Australia

Australia’s albino humpback whale is named Migaloo.
Caters News Agency

Many will go their whole lives without experiencing the majesty of a humpback whale in the wild, but a group of tourists in Australia caught a glimpse of an even more rare sighting, an albino humpback named Migaloo.

Whale watchers waiting off the coast of New South Wales were treated to the rare sight on Monday, during a time in which thousands of humpbacks are known to migrate to Antarctica, between April and November, where they breed before traveling back to Australia.

The timing of migration varies year to year, depending on a number of environmental factors such as water temperature, the prevalence of sea ice, the risk from predators and available prey for fueling the journey.

Migaloo was dubbed as such back in 1991 when he was first spotted passing through Byron Bay, a town in New South Wales. Marine biologists estimate that the white whale was born in 1986, and may be the only albino humpback currently in existence, according to the Pacific Whale Foundation.

His first portrait was taken through a telescope lens camera at a range of over 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) away. The photo at that time was too blurry to confirm his albino status, but a 1993 re-shoot in Hervey Bay, Queensland confirmed he was all white.

An instant aquatic celebrity, the public insisted the cetacean have a name, and decided to honor the local natives with an aboriginal name: Migaloo means “white fella” by some indigenous languages.