Migaloo swimming off Gold Coast

Australia's celebrity humpback Migaloo has ventured into Queensland waters as part of the white whale's northern migration.

Migaloo the white whale

Migaloo is set to pass into Queensland waters for the first time this year. (AAP)

Australia's famous white whale Migaloo has swum into Queensland waters as he makes his annual migration towards the Great Barrier Reef.

The humpback was sighted by television crews and whale watchers frolicking off the Gold Coast on Tuesday morning.

Migaloo, which received a Parks and Wildlife escort in 2016 due to the intense media interest, and hundreds of other humpbacks are making their way north to calve and mate in warmer Queensland waters.

"They can't have the calves in the cold water because they are born with no fat on them," Sea World Gold Coast marine sciences director Trevor Long told AAP on Monday.

Mr Long has seen the rare white whale many times.

"To be able to see any animal such as Migaloo, it's like a neon light under water," he said.

"It's just amazing."

The whale was was dubbed Migaloo, an indigenous word for white person, after being first seen off Byron Bay in 1991, when he was believed to be between three and five years old.


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Published 11 July 2017 12:36pm
Source: AAP


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