Silke Jasso
He’s speckled and beyond rare.
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Meet Patches the Dolphin, who was sighted off the coast of Southern California this week, swimming with about 40 other dolphins near Dana Point.
The last time anyone had seen Patches was in 2006, the year he was discovered by naturalist Mark Tyson, swimming between San Diego and Palos Verdes.
Patches and his fellow offshore bottlenose dolphins swam northwest after being spotted by Robin Lowe, an American Cetacean Society naturalist.
“I was over the moon with excitement,” Lowe, who has seen photos of Patches but has never actually saw him live, told The Orange County Register. “As the naturalist on board, I was able to explain how rare it is to see Patches.”
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According to Lowe, the famous dolphin has Leucism, a condition in which a reduction in melanin causes a partial loss of pigmentation in an animal. This results in his white, pale or patchy coloration.
