Rare white whale calf spotted off E Cape coast
Such a sighting appears not to have been recorded in the region
The East London and Wild Coast coastlines have been visited by sharks in the last few weeks, but the discovery of a light-coloured humpback whale may just be a first for the region.
The humpback whale and calf pair was spotted by Wavecrest Hotel and Spa assistant manager Sean Pike at about 10.30am on Sunday, about 1.5km from the shore.
“We [my wife Allouise and I] noticed something very pale in colour, swimming next to the adult whale. At first, thinking it was a light dolphin, I flew a drone out to investigate.
“I found the adult whale with a small, very light baby.
“While hiking near Wavecrest in the past, Allouise would spot the whales with binoculars and guide me onto them, where I would capture footage.
“We’ve had some spectacular, bumper action of the sardine run this year.”
East London Museum scientist Kevin Cole said the sighting of a light-coloured humpback was a first for the museum.
“The museum has no previous records of pale or lightcoloured humpback whales and Port Elizabeth’s Bayworld marine mammal curator, Greg Hofmeyr, has also not recorded such a sighting for the region.
“The humpback whale calf documented at Wavecrest appears consistently paler across its entire body with very white upper flukes and flippers.
“I have a record of a white juvenile southern right whale that was in Bonza Bay in 2017,” Cole said.
Good humpback whale sightings have been reported to the museum this past week, with groups being spotted at Marshstrand, Kwelerha Point, Gonubie and at Winterstrand.
“This first record of a pale humpback whale calf in our waters adds to a small body of knowledge on this colour presentation at birth and poses a question as to whether the paler colour will persist into adulthood.”
According to Cole, the first record of a famous adult white humpback whale called Migaloo was first sighted in Australian waters in 1991.
“He was believed to have been born in 1986. To date there are only three or possibly four records of other white humpback whales in the world.”
The gestation period for humpback whales is 11 to 12 months and calves are weaned at six to 12 months, associating with their mothers for one to two years.
Megaptera novaeangliae — or humpback whales — have a lifespan of up to 50 years.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, Cole received drone images from an East London resident of a mother and calf pair off Nahoon Point.
“The humpback whale calf in the image is also very pale. At this time I’m unable to determine whether it is the same pair from Wavecrest or not. I have asked Greg [Hofmeyr] at Bayworld to also have a look.”
By July 2019, 12 whales had been stranded along Eastern Cape shores. A 20-ton humpback was stranded on the rocky shores of West Bank.
“Encouraging too is that there have been very few whale strandings this year compared with previous years. Though it must be noted that observer effort was less due to the lockdown,” Cole said.
One of the best whale-watching towns in SA is Hermanus in the Western Cape, commonly between July and November.