Rare white dolphin spotted off California coast

In an extremely rare occurrence, an all-white dolphin was spotted in Monterey Bay, off the coast of California. Melissa Galieti of Monterey Bay Whale Watch Marine Biologist Melissa Galieti of Monterey Bay Whale Watch spotted the all-white Risso’s dolphin swimming in the Bay area on Jan. 25 of this year.

Galieti told ABC, in an email, that Risso’s dolphins are usually born dark grey and lighten as they mature and acquire scratches and scars. These scars emerge from dominance displays with other dolphins, as well as their squid prey that they typically feed on.

Though the young dolphin calf is completely white, Galieti said she and her colleagues are still trying to determine if the dolphin is truly albino.

“If it has blue eyes, it would be leucisitic, and not have a complete loss of pigmentation,” wrote Galieti, “Whereas red eyes would determine it to be albino.”

Experts at Monterey Bay Whale Watch said they believe it was the same white dolphin seen in Monterey in August 2014.