WATCH: Possible Rare Pink Dolphins Spotted in Louisiana

Get our free mobile app

A fisherman from Houston caught this amazing video of what seems to be a rare pink dolphin off the Louisiana coast, not far from shore.

What is a pink dolphin?

A-Z Animals says that pink dolphins are actually called Platanistoidea or Amazon River Dolphins and they are considered endangered. However, there is some discussion as to how many species there really are. The dolphin lives in freshwater and is a species of toothed whale living in the Amazon, Orinoco, and Araguaian rivers located in Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, and Peru. So what in the world was one, possibly two, doing off of the Louisiana coast? We don't know. I couldn't find an explanation. To be clear, we don't know what species of dolphin is featured in the video below.

Have any pink dolphins been spotted in Louisiana before?

Yes! A dolphin, affectionately called 'Pinky' by locals, has been spotted in Calcasieu Lake and is thought to be an albino bottlenose dolphin according to Wikipedia. Pinky was originally seen in 2007 by boat captain, Erik Rue. In 2015, Rue was able to capture photo evidence of Pinky mating, proving that she is female. Since then, despite recommendations by conservationists, she's become a bit of a tourist attraction. You can read more about Pinky and her history thanks to Good Times. Here's some really cool video captured of two pink dolphins, one of which is presumed to be Pinky, from 2018 by Thomas Smith.

Could this newest dolphin sighting be of Pinky?

We're not sure, but we think it's pretty cool that we're seeing a pink dolphin so close to the release of the new Barbie movie! This video was posted by Thurman Gustin, a fisherman from Houston. The video was taken off the coast of Cameron Parish near the Gulf of Mexico on July 12, 2023, while he was fishing Old River Pass according to USA Today. While you only see one dolphin in the video, he claims to have seen two.