A video of pink dolphins in Oman swimming off Qantab Beach in Muscat drew wide attention online after it was published on Monday, 19 October 2026.
According to Gulf Daily News, a small group of pink dolphins swam off the beach while beachgoers watched, and the footage was shared on social media by an account called @gulfmoments.
The report attributes the colour to blood circulation, with blood vessels showing through the animals’ pale skin.
Where the pink dolphins in Oman were filmed
Qantab is a coastal village in Muscat Governorate that is popular for dolphin-watching boat trips, and Oman’s coastal waters are home to several dolphin species.
The footage shows a small group of dolphins swimming close to the shoreline, and the person who filmed it has not been named.
Muscat’s coast is a regular stop for dolphin-watching operators, and common, spinner and bottlenose dolphins are among the species often seen in Omani waters.
Seeing a pale or pink animal in a pod is not unheard of, but the footage has still stood out online.
Pink river dolphins, known as botos, are usually associated with the Amazon basin in South America, which is why a pink pod off the Arabian coast has prompted so many questions online.
The clip has been reshared widely, with viewers asking what the animals are and why they look pink.
Which species are the pink dolphins in Oman?
The species has not been identified. Abbas Al Zadjali, who writes for an Omani newspaper, suggested the darker dolphins in the footage look more like Risso’s dolphins because of their rounded heads and dorsal fins, and said a distant recording needs specialist confirmation.
Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department says Chinese white dolphins are born dark grey and become lighter as they mature, and that their pinkness comes from blood vessels near the skin widening to release heat during activity.
NOAA Fisheries says Risso’s dolphins can turn pale grey or almost white with age, and research links accumulated pale scars to their lighter look.
Chinese white dolphins are a form of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, a group that lives in coastal waters of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, which is why humpback dolphins are often mentioned when pink dolphins are discussed.
The Oman footage has not been tied to that group.
What the pink dolphins in Oman clips are not
Some versions of the video circulating online included separate footage of pink humpback dolphins filmed in Thailand.
Al Zadjali said those clips should not be taken as evidence of the species seen off Oman, because they show a different animal in a different part of the world.
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