A rare albino bottlenose dolphin was showing off its brilliantly white dorsal fin off the east coast of Florida, according to Live Science.
Danielle Carter, a volunteer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, took a video when she noticed the Tursiops truncates swimming along the Indian River in Central Florida on Dec. 10.
The area where the dolphin was swimming is shallow, so it's a great spot to catch a dolphin's dinner: sea trout, pinfish or mullet, Blair Mase, the Southeast region marine mammal stranding coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Live Science.
"A lot of times when they act that way, they are herding fish into the shallows [to feed]" Mase told Live Science.
True albinism is marked by white or fair skin and hair, pink or red eyes and impaired vision, so it is impossible to tell from the video if the dolphin is a true albino, but Mase said the dolphin appears to be just a few years old.
Albinism can be dangerous in the wild. Albinos are not able to camouflage themselves adequately against predators and they are prone to severe sunburn.
"These are animals that we see along our coastline in our estuaries, and to hear about one that's albino is quite unique," Mase told Live Science. "But it does attract a lot of attention, and that is one of our concerns."
Mase encourages the public to respect the dolphin's privacy and space. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 protects bottlenose dolphins. NOAA recommends a distance of 50 yards (46 meters) be maintained from the animals, and to limit viewing of the animal to less than 30 minutes to reduce stress on the animal.
"This could be a transient animal coming in from somewhere else, just hanging around for a little bit, or it could be a resident," Mase said. "My hunch is that it's a transient animal from another area, just because Indian [River] Lagoon is so well studied, and we hadn't had a report of this animal prior to these reports."
