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Rare sighting of speckled dolphin off San Diego coast

Rare sighting of speckled dolphin off San Diego coast
Posted at 2:49 PM, May 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-23 19:41:46-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV)--"Patches" the speckled dolphin has been spotted off the coast of San Diego.

A naturalist with the American Cetacean Society saw Patches and 40 other offshore bottlenose dolphins Monday.  Robin Lowe said the group was swimming northwest.

Lowe said Patches has Leucism, a condition in which a reduction in melanin causes a partial loss of pigmentation, resulting in white or patchy skin coloration.

Danielle Faffer, a naturalist with San Diego Whale Watch, says sightings of Patches are rare.  The dolphin has been seen between San Diego and Palos Verdes a few times since it was first seen in 2006.