On Saturday morning, the carcass of a white albino humpback whale suspected to be the world’s most famous humpback whale named Migaloo was found ashore the Mallacoota beach in Eastern Victoria, Australia.
Peter Coles a resident of the island was out fishing when he saw the dead animal. Commenting on the incident he said: ” it was beautiful even though it was dead. It was pretty spectacular. It was pure white and marble looking. I thought it looked like a sculpture, it almost didn’t look real. I paced it out and it was 10m long. I didn’t touch it and it was a bit smelly. There weren’t any signs of decomposition but it did look very, very dead.”
Concerns abound in the hearts of many that this could actually be Migaloo – the snow – white whale who had often been sighted off the coast of Australia as far back as 1991 and became somewhat famous.
Mr Cole went further to express feelings of sadness over the demise of the outstanding creature. ” I felt sad for the poor creature not knowing it might be Migaloo” he said
Migaloo who was possibly born in 1986 has been missing for the past two years after losing his tracking chip.
While making further remarks on his discovery, Mr Peter mentioned that it was later that he found out about the scarce whale adding: “when talk came about, I realised it could be something quite rare if it is the white whale. It would mean I witnessed something incredible without knowing it at the time.”
According to deep-sea specialists, the location of the white whale tallies with Migaloo’s migration pattern. Therefore with the aid of photos and genetic sampling, scientists are at the moment working hard to ascertain the identify of this particularwhale, perhaps it could be Migaloo.
Migaloo is presumed to be about 15m long and about 40-tonnes in weight. Therefore, owing to it’s size, Mr Cole and others alike doubt whether the creature is actually Migaloo. He said “I think people are quite hesitant to call it Migaloo as many thought the whale would have been bigger”
Dr Vanessa, a Wildlife scientist and a part of the group looking into the incident tweeted: “Currently working with other scientists to identify this individual. This may or may not be #Migaloo. Nothing confirmed yet. #watchthisspace.”
Warnings have been made by the Victoria’s environment department (DELWP Victoria) that people should not touch or interfere with the dead whale as significant penalties will be meted out on anyone trying to take unapproved samples such like teeth as a souvenir.
Migaloo which means “white fellow” was first captured on video in 2010 12 miles from the Green Island near the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland. He is the only known all-white humpback whale in the world.
Humpback whales are estimated to live for about 40-50 years which will make Migaloo about 36years old at the moment, which adds to the probability of this white whale not being Migaloo.
