Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• De Weerdt, Joëlle

Titel

A new record of a white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Papeete, Tahiti

Ist Teil von

• Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2023-10, Vol.103, Article e78

Ort / Verlag

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A new record of a white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was made off Papeete, Tahiti in July 2019. The individual was completely white, except for grey patterns on its body and on the ventral part of the fluke. The presence of different colourations indicates that this individual is not an albino but a leucistic individual. According to field observations, the individual was likely a juvenile or a subadult. It was seen breaching several times and travelled further north of Papeete, where the animal was recaptured off Arue. White individuals are rare and offer unique opportunities to understand whale movement patterns and potential population connectivity among humpback whale populations.