Two white killer whales have been spotted in Hokkaido, off the coast of the northern island of Japan
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himWhen whale watchers saw them slicing through the waves they couldn't create in their eyes: two white orcas swimming together. A very rare event, the discovery was made in Hokkaido, off the coast of the northern island of Japan.
As we know killer whales are not white, so there is little chance of finding these beautiful marine animals of this color. But not species apart, as we have told you about other fish or mammals, these killer whales are also affected by leucism, a peculiarity due to a gene, recessive in most cases, which gives a white color to the fur or plumage of animals. which normally have a different colored coat.
It can occur either partially, or affecting only some parts of the body or completely, Leucism is different from albinism, in fact these two killer whales in the Japanese sea have kept their eyes dark (instead of being red) and have some dark pigment in the skin.
White killer whales were spotted on a July 24 whale watching tour in the Kunashirskiy Strait, a body of water between the northern islands of Hokkaido and Kunashir. Before now, only one of the white killer whales had been sighted, the eldest, while employees of the tour company who organize these observation tours claim that it is the first time that the younger one has been seen. And above all that they are seen together. As you can see from the photos, the youngest one has a lot of scratch marks on the back.
2021.7.24大ニュースクルーズ！！あたたかい中３便運航いたしました！8:30便：マッコウクジラとシャチ、イシイルカ、クロアシアホウドリに出会うことができました！11:30便14:30便では…11:50頃白シャチ２頭！！を…
Posted by Gojiraiwa Kanko Whale Watching on Saturday, July 24, 2021
Stunning and beautiful photos of a rare event, in which a pair of rare white orca was spotted swimming together, were captured by whale watchers off the coast of Japan.
Scratches are due to whales competing for marriage and other things.
– Rina Nagashima? Pic.twitter.com/KHwwFL97d4
— THE GLOBAL NEWS. (@THE_GLOBE_N) July 28, 2021
Mai, an employee of the Gojiraiwa-Kanko tour company, said one was older with slightly darker skin while the other was younger and had clearly visible scratch marks on his back. The two swam together in a pod with other usual-looking killer whales.
Posted by Hasegawa Yuki on Friday, July 23, 2021
In this case, it is not known what effect the white color has on orcas, but as with other animals this certainly creates problems with predators because it makes them easily identifiable. On the other hand, according to the researchers, this characteristic allows them to catch more fish because the salmon get confused and do not associate them with killer whales.
Fonte: Hasegawa Yuki
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