A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012
A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was observed on several occasions off Svalbard, Norway, during August 2012. The animal was completely white, except for a few small dark patches on the ventral side of its fluke. The baleen plates were light-coloured, but the animal's eyes h...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2013
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:17b09f132e354f34adb44d45d243b3e4 2023-05-15T15:38:59+02:00 A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012 Christian Lydersen Nils Øien Bjarni Mikkelsen Simon Bober Dan Fisher Kit M. Kovacs 2013-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v32i0.19739 https://doaj.org/article/17b09f132e354f34adb44d45d243b3e4 EN eng Norwegian Polar Institute http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/19739/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/0800-0395 https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v32i0.19739 0800-0395 1751-8369 https://doaj.org/article/17b09f132e354f34adb44d45d243b3e4 Polar Research, Vol 32, Iss 0, Pp 1-6 (2013) White humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae Svalbard leucism Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v32i0.19739 2022-12-31T05:00:58Z A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was observed on several occasions off Svalbard, Norway, during August 2012. The animal was completely white, except for a few small dark patches on the ventral side of its fluke. The baleen plates were light-coloured, but the animal's eyes had normal (dark) colouration. This latter characteristic indicates that the animal was not an albino; it was a leucistic individual. The animal was a full-sized adult and was engaged in “bubble-feeding”, together with 15–20 other humpback whales, each time it was seen. Subsequent to these sightings, polling of the marine mammal science community has resulted in the discovery of two other observations of white humpback whales in the Barents Sea area, one in 2004 and another in 2006; in both cases the observed individuals were adult animals. It is likely that all of these sightings are of the same individual, but there is no genetic or photographic evidence to confirm this suggestion. The rarity of observations of such white individuals suggests that they are born at very low frequencies or that the ontogenetic survival rates of the colour morph are low. Article in Journal/Newspaper Barents Sea Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Polar Research Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Barents Sea Norway Svalbard Polar Research 32 1 19739 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
White humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae Svalbard leucism Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
White humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae Svalbard leucism Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 Christian Lydersen Nils Øien Bjarni Mikkelsen Simon Bober Dan Fisher Kit M. Kovacs A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012 |
topic_facet |
White humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae Svalbard leucism Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was observed on several occasions off Svalbard, Norway, during August 2012. The animal was completely white, except for a few small dark patches on the ventral side of its fluke. The baleen plates were light-coloured, but the animal's eyes had normal (dark) colouration. This latter characteristic indicates that the animal was not an albino; it was a leucistic individual. The animal was a full-sized adult and was engaged in “bubble-feeding”, together with 15–20 other humpback whales, each time it was seen. Subsequent to these sightings, polling of the marine mammal science community has resulted in the discovery of two other observations of white humpback whales in the Barents Sea area, one in 2004 and another in 2006; in both cases the observed individuals were adult animals. It is likely that all of these sightings are of the same individual, but there is no genetic or photographic evidence to confirm this suggestion. The rarity of observations of such white individuals suggests that they are born at very low frequencies or that the ontogenetic survival rates of the colour morph are low. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Christian Lydersen Nils Øien Bjarni Mikkelsen Simon Bober Dan Fisher Kit M. Kovacs |
author_facet |
Christian Lydersen Nils Øien Bjarni Mikkelsen Simon Bober Dan Fisher Kit M. Kovacs |
author_sort |
Christian Lydersen |
title |
A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012 |
title_short |
A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012 |
title_full |
A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012 |
title_fullStr |
A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012 |
title_full_unstemmed |
A white humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Atlantic Ocean, Svalbard, Norway, August 2012 |
title_sort |
white humpback whale (megaptera novaeangliae) in the atlantic ocean, svalbard, norway, august 2012 |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v32i0.19739 https://doaj.org/article/17b09f132e354f34adb44d45d243b3e4 |
geographic |
Barents Sea Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Barents Sea Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Barents Sea Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Polar Research Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Barents Sea Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Polar Research Svalbard |
op_source |
Polar Research, Vol 32, Iss 0, Pp 1-6 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/19739/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/0800-0395 https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v32i0.19739 0800-0395 1751-8369 https://doaj.org/article/17b09f132e354f34adb44d45d243b3e4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v32i0.19739 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
32 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
19739 |
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1766370430424186880 |