A rare, unusually-colored bottlenose dolphin has caught the eye of Australian researchers. Its unique skin pattern has been attributed to piebaldism, earning the marine mammal the nickname “Speckles”. Researchers say that Speckles is the first piebald dolphin ever seen in Australian waters.
Speckles was spotted near a research vessel in Hervey Bay, Queensland, on the afternoon of September 25, 2022. “It was swimming with a group of five other
The researchers weren’t actually seeking out funky-patterned cetaceans – they were there to study how dolphins in the area are connected when they happened to come across this unusual creature.
“Speckles leapt out of the water three times in an upright, vertical position, while the rest of the group travelled in a ‘porpoising’ movement,” Hume continued.
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Piebaldism occurs
Luckily, Speckles was observed to be a healthy size – the fact it surfaced multiple times close to the research vessel allowed researchers to estimate its length to be around 3 meters (9.8 feet) – with a healed shark bite on the right side of its peduncle. Speckles’ sex could not be determined. “The clear identification of near-symmetrical white patches and the overall ‘healthy’ appearance of Speckles helped eliminate the possibility that these patches are due to potential disease or stranding-related sunburn,” explained Hume.
“It’s an exciting discovery, as to date, there are no documented sightings of any atypically coloured dolphins in Australian waters,” Levengood said. “There have however been a few sightings of atypical
Unfortunately, Speckles was not sighted by researchers again in 2022 after that chance encounter, despite them attempting to find it again the next day. Levengood recommended “genetic sampling of both common bottlenose dolphins and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in and surrounding Hervey Bay, to assess the population genetics and relatedness of individuals that might be influencing atypical
The study is published in the journal