NEW ORLEANS – Leaping through the water with four dark gray dolphins, the pink one is easy to spot.
The rare bottlenose dolphin is a frequent visitor to the lower Calcasieu Ship Channel south of Lake Charles.
Roddy Blackburn, crewman and relief captain of a boat that ferries pilots to and from ships in the channel, says they see him on a regular basis.
Michael Harbison, a state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist, say it's albino, and has red eyes. Since its skin has no pigment, it can appear pink when backlit as the color of blood under the skin becomes visible.
Biologist say albino dolphins are rare — the Lake Charles animal is just the 14th reliably reported worldwide, and the third in the Gulf of Mexico.
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