Authorities Confused over Identification of Whale Spotted Off Gold Coast

Iconic white humpback Migaloo has been spotted frolicking in waters off the Gold Coast.

Whale watchers are hoping it was Australia’s famous whale named Migaloo.

Mr Peterson said the whale’s timing was also about six weeks later than the famous humpback’s normal journey and it was much shinier than he would expect Migaloo to be.

The beloved Migaloo has a distinct hook, which was not evident in the recently spotted white humpback whale.

He said he was waiting on closer imaging to confirm if the giant mammal seen close to the Gold Coast shore on Monday morning was Migaloo.

It seems, however, that this is another whale-it appears to be slightly too small and too white to be Migaloo, several experts told Australia’s AP service.

However the sighting is debated by Southern Cross University (SCU) academic Wally Franklin, who first sighted Migaloo in 1992.

“The photos coming in are inconclusive”.

The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is still working to determine whether the whale was in fact Migaloo.

Migaloo over past years has been spotted at various locations around Australia, and there is even a Twitter account dedicated to his migration patterns.

Oskar Peterson has been compiling information regarding Migaloo for two decades, and according to Mashable, he noted that further photographs are needed before the white whale can be positively identified.

Another video of the white whale sighting was uploaded to YouTube by user James Chambers. Presently there are three white humpback whales that are known to traverse past Australia as they head north from the Antarctic Ocean.