In 1966, there was a beluga whale swimming up the Rhine, much further from the sea than this one. The crowd along the Rhine went mad like this time. We called the commotion 'Carnewhale' (it loses a bit in the translation). They couldn't catch it and it swam back to the Northern Sea after a month (!) in the Rhine.

All that was left was a (horrible) song:

Was will der weiße Wal im Rhein / (what is it the white whale is looking for in the Rhine)
Er hat gehört im Rhein soll Wein statt Wasser sein / (they told him there was wine instead of water in the Rhine)
Was will der weiße Wal? / (what is he looking for, the white whale?)
Das wissen wir genau: / (we know it exactly)
Der weiße Wal wär gern einmal / (the white wahle would love to be just once)
so richtig blau. (really blue/drunk; "blau" menas both blue and drunk)

Wolfgang