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Rare pink dolphin spotted near boat in Louisiana

By Daniel Uria
A rare pink dolphin, named "Pinky," was caught on video swimming alongside a boat near a ship channel in Louisiana. 
 Screenshot: KPLC/Inform Inc.
A rare pink dolphin, named "Pinky," was caught on video swimming alongside a boat near a ship channel in Louisiana. Screenshot: KPLC/Inform Inc.

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Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A couple on a traveling in a boat along a ship channel in Louisiana spotted a rare pink dolphin.

Bridget Boudreaux said she and her husband spotted the dolphin known as "Pinky" while on a cruise in Calcasieu Ship Channel near Hackberry on Saturday.

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"I about fell out the boat," she told KHOU. "I was like wow that's not a regular dolphin, that's a pink dolphin."

Boudreaux said she actually spotted two pink dolphins swimming about 20 feet from the boat and playing with other dolphins but only managed to capture one on camera.

"My husband was driving the boat and one jumped 20 feet from our boat," she told WFLA. "We were just astonished. I couldn't get my camera out fast enough."

Sightings of Pinky were first reported in 2007 and some suspect the second pink dolphin may be Pinky's offspring.

Some experts believe Pinky may be albino, but Kerry Sanchez of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium speculated the dolphin's unusual color may be due to genetic variation.

"So what they get from mom and what they get from dad means they can look a little bit different than that perfect image we expect," Sanchez said. "Seeing an animal that is extremely light in color is not something we would normally expect to see. And in my full time here, we've never seen an animal that looks like that."

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