Iceberg is the name of an all-white, mature male
orca
The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only Extant taxon, extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black ...
(killer whale) that was filmed and photographed in 2010 off the north-east coast of Russia. He is one of the first adult all-white orca bulls discovered in the wild.
Researchers attached to the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP), co-founded and co-directed by Alexander M. Burdin and
Erich Hoyt
Erich Hoyt (born 28 September 1950) is a whale and dolphin (cetacean) researcher, conservationist, lecturer and author of 26 books and more than 700 reports, articles and papers. His book ''Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoise ...
, first spotted the orca when his six-foot (two-metre)
dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...
broke the surface near the
Commander Islands
The Commander Islands, Komandorski Islands, or Komandorskie Islands (russian: Командо́рские острова́, ''Komandorskiye ostrova'') are a series of treeless, sparsely populated Russian islands in the Bering Sea located about ea ...
in the
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
in August 2010. He was living in a pod with 12 other orcas, and given the size of his dorsal fin was thought to be at least 16 years old.
Scientists from FEROP speculated that he may have been the albino whale spotted off the coast of Alaska in 2000 and 2008.
He was still alive as of 2016, when he was again spotted by FEROP with his pod.
It is unconfirmed whether Iceberg's pigmentation is
albinism
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino.
Varied use and interpretation of the term ...
or
leucism
Leucism () is a wide variety of conditions that result in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal—causing white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales, or cuticles, but not the eyes. It is occasionally spelled ' ...
. FEROP is hoping in future expeditions to find out.
The white coloration, more common in the Russian north Pacific than among Antarctic whales, may be a sign of dangerous inbreeding.
See Also
*
Chimo, an albino orca who had
Chediak-Higashi syndrome
*
List of individual cetaceans
Cetaceans are the animals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. This list includes individuals from real life or fiction, where fictional individuals are indicated by their source. It is arranged roughly taxonomically.
Baleen wh ...
References
External links
Russian Orcas HomepageFEROP official website
Iceberg image gallery
Individual orcas
Commander Islands
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