Were pink dolphins spotted off the North Carolina coast? No, the images are fake

Photos of pink dolphin sightings are making a splash online. But don’t be fooled by their rosy appearance — they’re not real.

A June 18 Facebook post showed photos of the brightly colored aquatic mammal and said "a rare pink dolphin" was spotted off the North Carolina coast.

Other Facebook posts shared similar photos of the supposed pink dolphin. These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Photos from Facebook)

Although there are dolphins that are known to be pink or pinkish, the one in these photos is not authentic.

A North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries spokesperson told PolitiFact that there have been no verified sightings of pink dolphins in North Carolina waters.

We also found no credible news reports about pink dolphins off the North Carolina coast.

Experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Southeast Regional Office reviewed the photos and said they were altered with software, a NOAA spokesperson told PolitiFact.

The photos appear to originate from a Facebook page called Outer Banks Vibes, which often posts digitally altered photos. The page first shared photos of pink dolphins June 18, and then it shared more photos the next day. Both posts have been shared more than 80,000 times.

"Pink dolphins" do exist, but they don’t look like the ones in these photos. The Amazon river dolphin, which lives only in freshwater rivers in South America, is known as the pink river dolphin, the World Wildlife Fund said.

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Taiwanese humpback dolphins, which live off Taiwan’s west coast, can look white and pinkish as adults, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The Amazon river dolphin and the Taiwanese humpback dolphin have features, such as different snout lengths and body sizes, that distinguish them from the fake pink dolphin in the photos.

In rare cases, dolphins can have albinism, a genetic condition that results in a lack of melanin. Albino dolphins appear pinkish or white, rather than the usual black or gray, according to the Blue World Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to marine research, education and conservation.

In 2023, two dolphins with pinkish hues were seen off Louisiana’s coast, news outlets reported. One of the dolphins was believed to be Pinky, a local legend and albino bottlenose dolphin who was first photographed in 2007.

We rate the claim that photos show a pink dolphin off the North Carolina coast False.