Gray whale

The gray whale is a very big animal.

It has dark skin with white spots. These spots are scars from tiny sea bugs.

These whales swim a long way each year. They move to find food and to have babies.

Mothers stay close to their babies in shallow water. They will fight hard to keep them safe. These whales can live for a long time. Some live for 70 years or more. It is amazing to see them in the sea!

The gray whale is a very large mammal.

It can grow up to 14.6 meters long. These whales live for 55 to 70 years.

Their dark skin has white patches. These patches are scars from tiny sea bugs.

These whales travel long distances every year. They move between places to eat and to have babies.

One group lives in the eastern Pacific Ocean. They swim from Alaska to Baja California. Mothers stay near the shore to keep calves safe. They will fight to protect their young. This is why some people call them "devil fish."

Another group lives in the western Pacific. This group is much smaller.

Gray whales use baleen to eat. Baleen is a set of plates in their mouths. These plates are cream or blond in color. They use these plates to filter food from the water.

They also have two blowholes on top of their heads. When they breathe, they can make a heart shape in the air.

The gray whale is a huge mammal that lives in the ocean.

It is known for its dark skin and white patches. These patches are actually scars left by parasites. These tiny sea creatures fall off when the whale is in cold water.

This whale is a very long-lived animal. Most live between 55 and 70 years. One female was even estimated to be 75 to 80 years old.

Adult whales can reach 14.6 meters in length. They can also weigh up to 36,000 kilograms.

These whales have a very special way of eating.

They are baleen whales, which means they filter food from the water. Instead of teeth, they have plates called baleen in their mouths. This baleen is often a cream or blond color. The plates can be as long as 0.76 meters.

They also have two blowholes on top of their heads. When they breathe in calm wind, the spray can look like a heart. This is a very neat thing to watch.

Scientists have spent a long time studying these whales.

In 1865, a man named John Edward Gray gave them their scientific name. He named it after a man named Daniel Frederik Eschricht. Later, a man named Cope described them in 1869. For a long time, people were confused about their names. Some thought the whales in the Atlantic were different from the ones in the Pacific. In the 1930s, experts realized they were actually the same species.

There are two main groups of gray whales in the Pacific Ocean.

The eastern group is very large with about 27,000 whales. They swim from Alaska down to Baja California Sur. Mothers stay in shallow water to keep their calves safe. They will fight hard to protect their babies. This is why people once called them "devil fish."

The western group is much smaller. They live near places like the Sea of Okhotsk and Sakhalin Island. This group was once critically endangered, but their numbers are starting to grow.

Gray whales are very different from other whales you might know.

They do not have a dorsal fin on their backs. Instead, they have a dorsal ridge with small bumps called knuckles. These bumps lead down to their large tail flukes.

They are not the fastest swimmers in the sea. They usually move at about 4.8 kilometers per hour. However, they can swim much faster if they are in danger. You can see how unique they are just by looking at their bones.

The gray whale, known scientifically as *Eschrichtius robustus*, is a massive marine mammal.

It is a baleen whale, which means it uses specialized plates to filter food. These whales are famous for their long migrations between feeding and breeding grounds. They are distinctive because of their dark slate-gray skin. This skin is covered in white mottling and gray patches. These patterns are actually scars left by parasites. These parasites drop off when the whale enters cold feeding waters.

Gray whales have a very unique physical structure. Unlike many other whales, they lack a dorsal fin on their backs. Instead, they possess a dorsal ridge. This ridge consists of 6 to 12 raised bumps called dorsal crenulations, or "knuckles."

These knuckles lead down the midline of their rear toward the flukes. Their tail flukes are quite large, measuring about 4.57 meters across. They are also deeply notched in the center. While they usually swim at a slow speed of 4.8 kilometers per hour, they can accelerate if they feel threatened.

The feeding mechanism of the gray whale is quite specialized. They are baleen whales, meaning they do not have teeth. Instead, they have cream or blond-colored plates called baleen.

These beard plates can reach lengths of up to 0.76 meters.

The whale uses these plates to filter tiny organisms from the water. Their throat also lacks the deep furrows found in related rorqual whales. Instead, the ventral surface of the throat has only two to five shallow furrows. This anatomy helps them process food as they move through the ocean.

Taxonomy, or the science of naming living things, has been complex for this species. In 1865, John Edward Gray placed the whale in its own genus, *Eschrichtius*. He named it to honor the zoologist Daniel Frederik Eschricht. For a long time, scientists thought the Atlantic and Pacific whales were different species. In 1869, Cope described the Pacific species as *Rhachianectes glaucus*. However, skeletal comparisons in the 1930s proved they were the same. This discovery helped clear up a century of scientific confusion.

There are two primary populations of gray whales in the Pacific Ocean. The eastern population is much larger, with about 27,000 individuals. These whales migrate between northern Alaska and Baja California Sur. Mothers often swim in shallow kelp beds to protect their calves. They are known to fight aggressively to defend their young. This behavior led some people to call them "devil fish."

The western population is much smaller and lives near the Sea of Okhotsk and Sakhalin Island.

While this group was once critically endangered, their numbers have recently begun to increase.

The history of the gray whale in the Atlantic is a story of loss.

These whales once lived in the North Atlantic, including the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. However, they were extirpated, or locally extinct, from these areas. This happened in the Atlantic coasts of America and Africa between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Scientists believe whaling may have caused this decline. A study from 2025 suggests they also disappeared from the eastern North Atlantic between the 12th and 14th centuries. This coincided with the end of the Medieval Warm period and a rise in medieval whaling.

Gray whales are remarkable for their longevity and size. An adult can reach a length of 14.6 meters. They can also weigh as much as 36,000 kilograms. Most gray whales live between 55 and 70 years. However, one female was estimated to have lived between 75 and 80 years.

Even though they are the ninth largest type of cetacean, they remain a vital part of the marine ecosystem. Their movements and life cycles connect different parts of the Pacific Ocean through their massive migrations.