Dolphin-whale hybrid discovered in Hawaii

Researchers in Hawaii say they have discovered a whale-dolphin hybrid, which is essentially a mule of the sea.

They were doing field work in the waters near Kauai when they spotted a pod of melon-headed whales and rough-toothed dolphins swimming alongside each other.

This apparently, isn’t all that unusual but then someone spotted an animal that just didn’t look right.

In a report published this month, the researchers said it had “pigmentation and morphological characteristics suggesting it may be a hybrid”.

Which is a technical way of saying this odd fellow didn’t have look exactly like the other whales, but it also didn’t look exactly like the other dolphins.

It was a mixture.

“The head shape appears intermediate between the two species, with a gently-sloping rostrum rather than the rounded-head of a melon-headed whales but which is truncated compared to rough-toothed dolphins,” researchers said.

Researchers photographed the animal during their field work. The hybrid is in the foreground. 

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Researchers were able to collect a skin and blubber sample of animal using a crossbow (yep, being a marine biologist is more badarse than you’d think) with a dart designed lightly prick its skin, going no deeper than 1.5cm.

They were able to determine the... uh whalfin (it sounds better than dolphale) was a male.

The team also suggested this little guy’s mother was a whale who mated with a dolphin.

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Robin Baird from the Cascadia Research Collective told KHON2 News journo Marisa Yamane it was a first.

He’s believe to be the first example of cross-species lovin’ between rough-toothed dolphins and melon-headed whales.

However, he’s not he first dolphin hybrid from the wild, with researchers noting he was the third known case of the Delphinidae family partnering up outside their species.

UPDATE: While we got all excited about this little fella being a new species, it turns out that’s not the case.

According to scientists, it’s totally wrong to label this guy a wolphin… or the suggestions like “whalphin” or “dolphdale” that we threw out there.

One of the study's authors Robin Baird told AP this “doesn't make any sense”.

“I think calling it a wholphin just confuses the situation more than it already is,” Baird said.

“There are examples where hybridisation has resulted in a new species.

“[But] there’s no evidence to suggest it’s leading toward anything like species formation.”

We’ve changed the headline to reflect this update and have to admit that “wolphin” sounds much, much better than “dolphale”.