Recently, there has been considerable excitement over the sighting of a white humpback whale off Australia’s Gold Coast.  Initially, the whale was thought to be Migaloo, an albino humpback first seen in 1991. The white whale, however, appears to be smaller and younger than Migallo and to lack the older whale’s distinctive markings. Some are dubbing the newly sighted whale “Son of Migaloo.”

Four years ago, we posted, “Of Migaloo and the New White Calf” about Migaloo and the appearance of a white humpback whale calf sighted off Queensland, Australia. Migaloo, or “white fella” in an Aboriginal language, may be the most popular humpback whale in the world, being the subject of several web sites (see also here and here) and Facebook and Twitter pages, (of course) as well as over a dozen Youtube videos.

While the newly sighted whale has been nicknamed “Son of Migaloo,” there is no way to determine if they are indeed related without DNA testing. Oskar Peterson, founder of the White Whale Research Centre, is quoted as saying, “”We know there were two white whales born the size of Migaloo on the east coast in the last four or five years. We also believe there is one that cruises up the west coast of Australia but we don’t have photographic evidence of it.”

A white humpback whale was also seen off the coast of Norway in 2012.  An all-white male orca whale was also sighted off the coast of Russia.

Awesome footage of rare white whale off the coast of Australia

Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to the post.