The waters of the seas and oceans are home to an incredible variety of different creatures, among which there are truly unusual ones.
Among these unusual animals, there is one albino dolphin. It was discovered with his mother and other members of the tribe in the Monterey Bay of California.
The first to spot the unusual dolphin while patrolling the area on a boat were Blue Ocean Whale Watch employees 3 miles away off the coast of Moss Landing.
Employees of the Department of Animal Protection, who immediately arrived at the site, recognized him as the Risso dolphin.
He was first discovered back in 2015 with his mother. And this fact amazed zoologists. Because after so many years, the mother was still there.
Albinism is as common in the wild as it is in humans. But albino dolphins, unlike whales, remain like that for life. After 3-4 years, whales still acquire the natural color of the species.
Today, this dolphin is the only albino in the entire Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Having met such a representative, one can only guess why Mother Nature awarded this creature with such an unusual color.
Is this a common mutation of cells that produce melanin — the pigment that gives the skin, hair and eyes their color, or something else.
Although such dolphins look beautiful from the outside, they usually have health problems.
As a rule, these are skin diseases from excess ultraviolet radiation, poor eyesight, and sometimes hearing.
And if this is not a pod representative, plus not large, then this is the first victim for predators.
In addition, it is more difficult for albinos to hunt, because they can be seen from a mile away.
But as the department staff noticed, everything is all right with this dolphin. It looks quite healthy and even calmly hunts squid with its relatives from the pod.
20 years in the US Navy, and I’ve never seen an albino whale, in the Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or even a zoo.