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| Science & Technology |
| Calling Cap'n Ahab! |
| 2008-03-09 |
| ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The white killer whale spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent researchers and the ship's crew scrambling for their cameras. The nearly mythic creature was real after all. "I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it." The whale was spotted last month while scientists aboard the Oscar Dyson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, were conducting an acoustic survey of pollock near Steller sea lion haulout sites. It had been spotted once in the Aleutians years ago but had eluded researchers since, even though they had seen many of the more classic black and white whales over the years. Fearnbach said the white whale stood out. "When you first looked at it, it was very white," she said Thursday. Further observation showed that while the whale's saddle area was white, other parts of its body had a subtle yellowish or brownish color. It likely is not a true albino given the coloration, said John Durban, a research biologist at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. That's probably a good thing — true albinos usually don't live long and can have health problems. Durban said white killer whales have been spotted elsewhere in the area twice before: in 1993 in the northern Bering Sea around St. Lawrence Island and in 2001 near Adak in the central Aleutians. There have also been sightings along the Russian coast. While Alaska researchers have documented thousands of black and white killer whales in the Bering Sea and the Aleutians during summer surveys, this was something new and exciting, Durban said. "This is the first time we came across a white killer whale," he said. The scientists observed several pods over a two-week period. The white whale was in a family group of 12 on a day when the seas were fairly rough. It was spotted about 2 miles off Kanaga Volcano on Feb. 23. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #4 OTOH, New "PIRATES" movie plot - CAPT. JACK SPARROW meets the DEMON WHALE MOBY DICK + ZOMBIE CAPT AHAB??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-03-09 18:27 |
| #3 At the time, I didn't think anything about it, but I wonder iff that's the same whitish whale [spots] I'd spotted from Guam's TWO LOVER'S POINT back in January??? D *** NG IT, MADONNA > SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH SIR/MR. PEDRO, in "LAS ISLA BONITA". Actually, some on Guam believe that the basis for Guam's Two Lovers Point legend goes further back than the Spanish = even pre-Spanish era, i.e. in that the sides of the HARMON cliff resembles the side profiles two human faces [male-female?] looking out into WESTPAC-EAST ASIA + SUN. TLP SUFFERED HEAVY US NAVAL BOMBARDMENT DURING WW2 [1944], as the US inavsion force believed the cliffline was prime for Japanese fortifications, espec given that TUMON was a viable alternate landing site for US ground forces. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-03-09 18:24 |
| #2 I'm sure the Japanese will skewer the poor guy for "scientific research". |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-03-09 11:37 |
| #1 "It is an evil voyage, I tell thee. If Ahab has his way, neither thee nor me, nor any member of this ship's company will ever see home again." "Aw, come on, Mr. Starbuck, you're just plain gloomy. Why don't you retire from whaling and open a coffee stand in Seattle?" |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-03-09 00:27 |