An Iceberg of a different kind

A mature all-white male orca, the only one of its kind known, has been spotted in the North Pacific off the east coast of Russia, scientists announced April 23 2012. After seeing its towering white dorsal fin breaking through the water's surface, the team named the distinctive beast "Iceberg."

 

Researchers first spotted the mature killer whale with his pod of 13 relatives in August 2010 in waters around the Commander Islands; he was seen twice that month, and photographed. When the researchers, part of the Far East Russia Orca Project, returned during the summer of 2011, they couldn't find him.

Iceberg appears very healthy at his ripe-old age of 16, an age determined by the size of his dorsal fin, which extends nearly 6.6 feet, or 2 meters, high, Hoyt said, adding that he seems to be doing OK socially as well.

"His pod's sounds are different than most of the orcas around that area, so they could be from an area closer to the Arctic or in the Aleutians, we don't know," Hoyt said.