Moby Dick stirs excitement in Australian waters
SYDNEY, July 21 (Reuter) - An extremely rare albino whale has been spotted off the Australian coast, prompting a call on Friday for whale-watchers, seafarers and even aircraft to look out for the real-life Moby Dick.
The all-white humpback whale was sighted by a fisherman off a headland midway along Australia's east coast last Sunday, a spokesman for a state wildlife service told Reuters on Friday.
It was the fourth sighting since 1991 of what is thought to be the same animal, said Lawrence Orel, a spokesman for New South Wales state's National Parks and Wildlife Service.
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"It's the colour of new white paper," said Australian Whale Conservation Society president Paul Hodda, who spotted the whale four years ago.
"There's no evidence of any other white humpback whale anywhere in the world," he told Reuters.
News of the latest sighting had caused "a bit of excitement" in scientific and conservation circles, Orel told Reuters.
"We do welcome reports from people who may have seen it, because it will give us a good idea of how fast and what distances it is travelling," he said.
"This animal is useful from a scientific point of view. It is readily visible from a boat or an aircraft."
The most recent sighting was from a fishing boat as the whale swam past Cape Byron, about 550 km (340 miles) north of Sydney, on a migration route from Antarctic waters to sub-tropical breeding grounds off the northeast coast.
The society appealed on Friday for whale-watchers to take care not to stress the animal and to keep well clear.
The breeding season, which runs from August to October, brings whale-watching to a peak in northeast waters.
Local media reports have dubbed the albino whale Moby Dick, after the white whale that featured in Herman Melville's famous novel of the same name.
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 Media contacts:
Working on an article or story about Migaloo? To arrange for interviews and photos, please contact:
Anne Rillero, Publicist, Pacific Whale Foundation at 808-249-8811 or 808-244-8390.
Or email: publicrelations@pacificwhale.org
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