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Never-Before-Seen Dolphin-Whale Hybrid Spotted

The product of a rough-toothed dolphin and a melon-headed whale.

Scientists have spotted a never-before-seen dolphin-whale hybrid near Hawaii’s coast, ScienceAlert reports. The mammal’s father was a rough-toothed dolphin and its mother was a melon-headed whale, which is actually a species of dolphin (and is of the delphinidae family). Researchers from the Cascadia Research Collective first saw the animal, which they called Steno bredanensis, in 2017. They collected a skin sample and used genetic analysis to determine its parentage. Previously found dolphin hybrids include a half-beluga, half-narwhal and the offspring of a false killer whale and bottlenose dolphin. It is not known whether the Steno bredanensis is a new species as it remains unclear whether it can reproduce.