Africa-Press – South-Africa. I was standing on top of my boat on a viewing platform when I saw a flash of white. I thought, what is that? In the 31 years I have been doing this, I have never been more excited.”
Lloyd Edwards was on the roof of his boat near Saint Croix Island in Algoa Bay when he noticed a rare sight: an albino bottlenose dolphin swimming in the water.
He told News24 that he immediately ran to get his camera to take a photo. “I screamed and shouted, and when I got the picture, it was such jubilation.”
Edwards and his family were celebrating his son’s wedding party on 12 April when the sighting occurred.
However, upon reflection, Edwards did not realise how rare the sighting was in South African and African waters.
“I thought, ‘I am sure people have seen this before.’ But upon googling ‘albino bottlenose dolphin’, there was nothing in Africa or South Africa. There were sightings in other places, but they had bad pictures.”
Edwards is the director of Raggy Charters and a marine conservationist. He has managed a marine conservation project for 31 years, focusing on protecting marine environments in Algoa Bay and southern Africa. He also hosts marine tours to generate income for the conservation project.
“The dolphin population in Algoa Bay has steadily increased within the past few years, which makes this sighting significant. We will be keeping our eyes peeled for the next sighting,” he said.
According to the Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, bottlenose dolphins are usually black and grey on their backs and light grey on their bellies.
However, a genetic mutation can lead to a lack of pigment where the skin can appear white and the eyes have a red colouration called albinism.
Albinism in blue whales, grey whales, sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins is uncommon and can lead to capture, it said.
According to Maryke Musson, executive at the South African Association for Marine Biological Research, sightings of albino bottlenose dolphin are very rare.
Musson added:
“There is the famous albino whale Migaloo spotted off the Australian coastline and the well-known albino orca, Iceberg, that was found just off Russia. I do not know of any other albino bottlenose dolphins that have been seen off the South African coastline,” she said.
She added that photographs show that the dolphin is one to two months old.
Edwards said he hoped that the sighting would be seen as a “joyous occasion” and that it would bring attention to the importance of preserving and conserving marine environments.
Issues facing South African oceans included whale and dolphin entanglements in rock lobster lines and the impact of seismic surveys that could affect the food chain and damage the navigation systems of marine life, he added.
“Here is an example of why we need to preserve our marine environment and contribute to helping the planet. What a nice sighting in Africa and one of the very few in the world,” he said.
Musson added: “It is important to find balance. The ocean offers us so many resources and we need to make sure that we use it in a sustainable manner. There are positive things we can do to make a difference.”
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