Awesome footage of rare white whale in Australia

On August 10, the department told Mashable Australia via email it has still not been able to confirm whether the sighting is that of the Migaloo.

A rare white humpback whale has been spotted off the coast of Queensland, and whale watchers are hoping it is Australia's famous whale Migaloo.

Migaloo, a name giving by Aboriginal Elders that means "white fella," is one member of a rare group of white whales that have been spotted swimming in Australian waters.

On Monday, August 10, the white whale was first spotted by a Seven News television helicopter at around 11 a.m. If confirmed, this would be the first sighting of Migaloo since his migration up the east coast of Australia last year.

According to Queensland's Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Migaloo was first spotted in 1991 off Byron Bay to much media fanfare as he was the world's first known white humpback. The whale was believed to be three to five years old and discovered to be male, after recordings of him singing were captured in 1998 and 2003.

Over the years, Migaloo has been spotted at various locations around Australia, and there is even a Twitter account dedicated to his migration patterns.

Oskar Peterson, who is behind the Twitter account and has been collating information on Migaloo since the early '90s told Mashable Australia further photos are needed to confirm if it is actually Migaloo. He believes it may not be the famous whale, due to the timing of the migration and the fact the whale appears smaller and younger than Migaloo, who was last spotted in Sydney and Cairns last year.

"The photos coming in are inconclusive," Peterson said. "He seems to be very shining white, while last year he had yellow colouring markings on him." Migaloo also has a crooked hook fin and a scar after being struck by a trimaran off Queensland in 2003 — both of these unique features can not be seen in the current photographs.

"He got ran into by a trimaran so he has some scars on the left side, and he also has an unusual hook on his back," Peterson said. "In the photos and the YouTube footage (above) on the beach the hook isn't as prominent as Migaloo's is."

According to Peterson, Migaloo makes an 8,000-kilometre (5,000-mile) return journey along the east coast of Australia from the Antarctic Ocean to tropical Queensland and back again. The migration means Migaloo begins his journey in April, swimming past the Gold Coast in late June and passes by on the way back in late-October or early-November. If this is the beloved whale, he is six weeks behind schedule.

Peterson believes it could instead be Migaloo Junior, an all-white calf spotted in 2011, or that Migaloo has become delayed for a particular reason — such as a distracting love interest.

"This could well be Migaloo, but at this moment in time I am leaning towards that it is not. Due to his size and lack of photos at the moment, but also the timing of the year. It is very unusual," Peterson said. "What might be the case is that he has fallen smitten for some beautiful humpback female and he has been singing her love songs and taking his time."

There are at least three other white whales in Australian waters. "We know there were two white whales born the size of Migaloo on the east coast in the last four or five years. We also believe there is one that cruises up the west coast of Australia but we don't have photographic evidence of it," Peterson said, adding there is also a white whale in the northern hemisphere near Norway.

The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection and Sea World have been contacted for comment.