A white Omura's whale has been spotted near Koh He in Phuket, possibly marking the first sighting of this very rare mammal in Thailand and even the world, according to a marine biologist.
Assoc Prof Thon Thamrongnawasawat of Kasetsart University wrote on Facebook on Saturday that based on detailed information of the marine animal sighted on Jan 1, it seems to be an Omura's whale, not a Bruda whale.
The most noticeable difference between the two is that an Omura's whale has a single ridge on the front of its head, while a Bruda whale has three, he said.
The whale was spotted with another Omura's whale about 4pm by a person on a boat, about 9km south of Koh He.
Assoc Prof Thon said Omura's whales are rare and mostly found in the seas in Southeast Asia and the waters south of Japan.
In Thailand, while the mammals have been sighted both in the Andaman Sea and in the Gulf of Thailand, they are more commonly sighted in the Andaman Sea.
The marine expert described a white Omura's whale as "doubly rare".
The probability of seeing one is about one in 10 million or more, he said.
