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Albino Green Turtle Spotted On Australia's Sunshine Coast

His name is Alby.

It's not that easy being ... albino?

A green turtle that isn't so green was among the 122 babies that hatched at Castaways Beach in Australia over the weekend.

Volunteers from environmental group Coolum District Coast Care Group found him under the sand while collecting data.

Naturally, he's been named Alby.

Meet Alby, the first ever albino Green turtle we have come across in our 9 years of turtle monitoring. Alby was born at...

Posted by Coolum District Coast Care Group on Sunday, February 7, 2016

A couple more photos of Alby- Thanks to John and Danny Bird and (Kim- turtle track spotter extraordinaire) and Susan!

Posted by Coolum District Coast Care Group on Sunday, February 7, 2016

President Leigh Warneminde told CNN that Alby was a rare find.

"It was a surprise. We were amazed to see this small white creature with pink flippers," she said.

Warneminde said volunteers were surveying a nest that had hatched two days earlier, when they found Alby lying on his back.

"It was very chipper and just took off into the water as happy as can be," she told BBC News.

Col Limpus, chief scientist for Queensland's Threatened Species Unit, told ABC News Australia the chance of an albino turtle was "one in many hundreds of thousands of eggs that are laid."

Low chance for survival

The survival rate for green turtles is low, and only about 1 in 1,000 actually make it to maturity, Warneminde said.

Limpus said the survival rate for albino turtles is even lower, since their colour patterns wouldn't blend and camouflage, making them more likely to be taken by predators.

"Normally they don't survive coming out of the nest and when they do they're abnormal and not well suited to the environment, which means the chance of survival is very slim," he said.

But the Coolum District Coast Care Group was hopeful, posting well-wishes for the turtle on Facebook.

"May the oceans be kind to this unique little green turtle!"

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