Rare sighting of “Albino” dolphin awes spectators in Dana Point

July 21st, 2008, 3:13 pm · 12 Comments · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer

A rare sighting of an albino or “pink” dolphin was reported off the coast of Dana Point Sunday, giving spectators aboard a charter boat run by Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari a treat.

Capt. Dave Anderson said he has only seen the albino dolphin once before during his years at sea, but this is the first time he’s ever been able to capture it on camera.
“We’ve never been able to get close to it until yesterday,” he said. “It got close up to the boat and was riding with us.”

In most cases, common dolphins are a sleek gray color. Anderson thinks this albino dolphin is the same one he saw before, in a group of about 500 common dolphins that swam alongside the boat.

There are about 400,000 common dolphins along the coast here, Anderson said.

“We just never see this, it’s just a rare and unusual sighting,” he said.
His 6-year-old daughter Arielle named the dolphin “Casper.”

Among the passengers were 14 students from around the USA as well as Italy, Sweden, Great Britain, Spain, and Scotland, who were attending a summer course on Spinal Cord Injury Research hosted by the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the UC Irvine.

Check out this video footage taken by passenger Sheri Lowry.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.

Not much is known about the albino common dolphin, but Anderson thinks the same genetics that happen with human albinos also occur in the dolphins.

A similar dolphin spotted in Louisiana last year made huge nationwide news, with photos of the pink-eyed, pink-skinned mammal circulated widely on the Internet. Read the story here.
Anderson said this one was with a calf. Also on the trip, the charter boat spotted a blue whale, two fin whales, and a pair of Risso dolphins.

More from the Beach Blog:

Shark attacks woman on kayak at Catalina, knocks her off in front of her kids

Blue whale spotted offshore

Great white shark spotted by charter boat 2 miles off Doheny State Beach

Great white sharks: Have you seen any? Check out our map of sightings

Rare sighting of killer whales close to coast

Tandem surfers flipping out for San Clemente’s Ocean Festival

So Cal surfing vs. Central Coast? Plus nude surfing

Skateboarder seizes 405 freeway

Another fatal shark attack

Great whites off Newport Beach: photos from 2002

Shark kills swimmer in Solana Beach just south of OC - local beaches stay open

Share this post:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Jim S says:

July 21, 2008 at 4:12 pm

We have seen this dolphin or another one like it probably 3-4 times in tha last five years in the channel between Dana Point and Palos Verdes . It has always been in a group of at least 75 or more other dolphin. Another one, was similar white, with dark “spots”.

chonches says:

July 21, 2008 at 4:34 pm

DEPORT THE WHITE DOLPHIN!!!

Dina says:

July 21, 2008 at 5:33 pm

too cute!

JD2JD2 says:

July 21, 2008 at 6:11 pm

I think Casper is beautiful. What a treat it was for all those who were previleged to see him.

I’m upset that the OCR reporter called Casper a “Freak of Nature” particularly since this dolphin’s genetics were compared to humans who have also had these traits. Perhaps a visit to a thesaurus would have been in order here. Someone needs to expand their vocablulary a lot.

noway says:

July 21, 2008 at 6:19 pm

FREAK of nature? haha you’ve got to be kidding me. please rename the title to something a little less abrasive. the dolphin didn’t do anything to you, did it?