S'porean man spots 2 wild pink dolphins during honeymoon cruise

Lucky sighting.

Ashley Tan | June 30, 2021, 01:37 PM

Dolphins are one of the most beloved creatures in the animal kingdom due to their intelligence and cutesy appearance.

One Singaporean man was fortunate enough to witness two of these charismatic individuals in the wild.

Thought they were fishes

Muhammad Nazri told Mothership he was aboard a cruise ship with his wife for their honeymoon.

While bobbing along somewhere in the South China Sea, the lovebirds were graced with the presence of two wild Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins at around 9:55pm.

Nazri said he was sitting at the balcony of his stateroom at the time, and thought the dolphins were "big fish".

Upon taking a closer look, he realised the "fishes" were weaving and leaping out of the water, and proceeded to take a video.

It was only after he sent the video to his sister, Wani, did she inform him that the mere fishes he saw were actually rare pink dolphins.

Dolphins are mammals, and breathe air, much like humans.

While individuals of this species may appear more white or grey-coloured, the two dolphins Nazri sighted were a rather startling shade of light pink.

Check out Nazri's video, which Wani posted to Facebook.

More about pink dolphins

Nazri said that the dolphins splashed around for around two minutes before disappearing into the depths.

Although the pink dolphins were spotted much further out into the ocean in this case, the species has been sighted occasionally in Singapore waters at St. John's Island, Lazarus Island and Tuas.

Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins are locally endangered, according to the Red List of threatened animals in Singapore.

They are classified as "Vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

However, the sighting of dolphins in urbanised Singapore could be an indication of good water quality, nature site Wild Singapore noted.

The dolphins are threatened by water pollution, the loss of habitats as well as drowning as a result of being trapped by abandoned fishing nets and lines.

Top photo from Muhammad Nazri via Wani Mckenzie / FB