The marketing for Barbie has been pretty impressive leading up to the film’s release this weekend, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that they are behind this too…
Houston Native Thurman Gustin was out fishing near the Gulf of Mexico, and though he was obviously hoping to catch fish, he instead ended up catching a glimpse of not one, but two rare pink dolphins.
Now you might be reading this and saying “how rare can they be if there are two of them,” and to that I say: fair point. However, it might be even more of a special sighting because one of them seems to be smaller than the other, meaning it could be the pink dolphin’s offspring.
Regardless of how you feel about the situation, Gustin was pumped when he saw the colorful dolphins breaching the water, telling USA Today:
“We were fishing down in Louisiana, near a channel that runs down to the Gulf of Mexico when I spotted something under the water that was really big and not the right color. I couldn’t believe what I just saw, so I immediately took out my camera and started filming.”
I like that he described it as “not the right color.” It doesn’t take a dolphin expert to know that they aren’t supposed to be pink, so clearly Gustin was a little freaked out by the sighting. And it’s a good thing he started filming, because the pink dolphin and its other pink colleague started to approach the boat:
“After a while, it came closer to the boat. There were two of them − a big one and a small one.”
Turns out the pink dolphin is actually a regular in the area, even given the uberly creative nickname… wait for it… Pinky.
A genetic mutation in dolphins can often result in albino dolphins being born, or in this case, dolphins with lighter skin that can appear to be a pinkish white color.
Though Pinky the dolphin frequents the area, seeing it is still considered unforgettable sighting.
Gustin certainly thought so, continuing on about his excitement:
“I go fishing all the time. This was my third trip to Louisiana this year. I got very lucky because such spotting is extremely rare. People who have lived their whole lives there haven’t seen anything like this.”
Take a look at the pink dolphins swimming along:
