While Captain Ahab wasn鈥檛 present, a whale-watching tour did happen to find a white whale close to Nanaimo during an excursion yesterday.

Vancouver Island Whale Watch posted photos on social media after coming across a white orca Tuesday, and Val Watson, a marine naturalist with the Nanaimo-based company on the mid-day tour, said it is not an everyday occurrence.

鈥淔or the tour we saw humpbacks and on the way back, about five minutes outside of Nanaimo, we came across a pod of orca and within that pod of orca there was a white individual,鈥� said Watson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very rare. The last time it was recorded in our population was about 10 years ago, so it鈥檚 happened before, but it鈥檚 very uncommon.鈥�

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Watson said it鈥檚 hard to determine whether it was an actual albino and the reasons why it was white, but genetics could be the reason for the orca鈥檚 complexion.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a couple of thoughts to it,鈥� said Watson. 鈥淣othing鈥檚 confirmed yet because it takes sampling, that we just don鈥檛 have access to, so what people are suggesting to us is that it鈥檚 Chediak-Higashi syndrome, which is a genetic condition that can cause albinism in mammals.鈥�

As a white orca sighting doesn鈥檛 happen often, Watson said the tour was abuzz.

鈥淭here was a ton of excitement,鈥� said Watson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really rare so it鈥檚 really incredible to get to see it. We weren鈥檛 really expecting to find something like that, so we were definitely excited.鈥�

reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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