An all-white killer whale has been spotted off the south-east coast of Alaska.
The young whale that has been spotted has been named T’luk – which means ‘Moon’ in the language of the Coast Salish people.
T’luk has been spotted swimming with two adult whales along the coast of Kuiu and Kupreanof Islands.
Dennis Rogers, the owner of Alaska Sea Adventures, said he was on a trip with eight guests when they spotted the white killer whale.
“It sure made spotting him easy,” Dennis said.
“When they went down underwater, usually they disappear and typically very hard to follow,
“But having a white one under the water, you could see him an easy ten feet below the surface, this big white shape moving along there.”
The moment was thankfully caught on video:
However, despite his unique white colouring, marine biologists do not believe that T’luk is classed as an albino whale.
Jared Towers, a killer whale researcher for Fisheries and Oceans, said the whale was more likely to be white due to a lack of pigmentation – not albinism.
“I don’t believe it’s an albino whale,” Jared stated.
“It’s not quite pure white and it doesn’t have the pink eyes that would indicate albinism.”
Whilst it is unlikely that T’luk is albino, white killer whales are still extremely rare – with only two currently known to be alive.
