A rare white transient orca was spotted off the coast of Vancouver Island by a local whale watching company while on a tour Tuesday.

Paul Pudwell, the owner of Sooke Whale Watching, snapped a few photos of the unusual sight in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Sooke.

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Tl鈥檜k, whose name means Moon in Indigenous Coast Salish, was first spotted by Pudwell back in November 2018. Researchers estimate that the whale is two years old.

Researchers have previously noted that the young whale isn鈥檛 albino because it would have completely white skin and no pigment in its eyes. Instead, it is most likely leucism, a condition where there is a partial loss of pigmentation in an animal.

Known to scientists as T46-B1B, Tl鈥檜k has been spotted as far south as the Puget Sound and earlier in August, as far north as Alaska.

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aaron.guillen@goldstreamgazette.com