Social Media Storm Over Pink Dolphin Spotted Off the Coast of North Carolina: Here’s What Really Happened

A pink dolphin, a rare species globally, was reportedly spotted off the coast of North Carolina on June 19. The photo went viral across various social media platforms and garnered tens of thousands of likes, but it was later confirmed to be a fake image generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

A photo of the pink dolphin allegedly spotted off the coast of North Carolina in the US spread across various social media platforms, including Facebook. [Photo = X (formerly Twitter)]

According to Newsweek, a post initially appeared on Facebook on June 19 claiming that a pink dolphin had been seen at a North Carolina beach.

“On the morning of June 19, a beautiful and rare pink dolphin was discovered stranded on NC Hatteras beach, having been washed out of its natural habitat. A kind-hearted man saw the distressed dolphin and quickly took action to help it return to the ocean, ensuring its safety and well-being,” the post read.

This post quickly spread online, garnering 60,000 likes and 80,000 shares as of the 22nd, sparking widespread interest among the viewers.

Around the same time, a photo of a pink dolphin surfacing and diving in the waters near North Carolina was posted on X.

However, the photo was revealed to be a false image, with the Fact Check website Snopes reporting that the photo has a 99.9% chance of being an AI-generated image.

“We have never received a report or a verified photo of a pink dolphin in North Carolina waters,” clarified a spokesperson for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) regarding the recent incident.

Although dolphins with pink or light hues exist, their sightings are extremely rare.

Typically, pink dolphins are divided into two types: Amazon river dolphins and albino bottlenose dolphins. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Amazon river dolphins live exclusively in freshwater. They are found in the Amazon river basins in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. They are not pink at birth but develop the coloration as they grow.

The skin of a bottlenose dolphin is typically gray. However, genetic mutations can occasionally produce an albino bottlenose dolphin, characterized by white skin and pink eyes. Due to their unusual coloration, these dolphins are more vulnerable to predation by various carnivorous fish. It is believed that there are only about 20 albino bottlenose dolphins in existence globally.