Statistics
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Eschrichtius robustus
MEANING: Named for a 19th century zoologist
RANGE: northern Pacific
LENGTH: 12-15 meters (36-45 feet)
WEIGHT: 28-35 tons
DIET: Bottom dwelling crustaceans
Description
The Mysticeti, or baleen whales, are divided into three living families: the ponderous right whales slowly skim the surface waters for copepod and decapod crustaceans. The rorquals, or groove-throated whales are the largest and swiftest of the great whales and forage by "gulping" - lunging at dense shoals of euphausid "shrimp" or anchovies with their jaws agape and their throats distended. The third family contains only one species - the gray whale, which stirs up bottom sediments with its snout in search of amphipod crustaceans.
While all species of whales harbor some sort of external parasites or hangers-on, the gray whale exhibits the most extensive assemblage of marine hitch-hikers. Its skin is a mottled gray in color, which already imparts a somewhat crusty appearance. By the time and individual has reached sexual maturity, it has invariably become heavily encrusted with barnacles and its skin is also home to a large number of cyamid crustaceans known as "whale lice". There is no dorsal fin in this species, though the first of a series of knobs along the latter part of the spine may have the appearance of a small fin.
Gray whales spend half the year (late autumn to early spring) migrating between the Bering, Chukchi and Okhotsk seas in the north and more southerly waters along both sides of the Pacific (there are two populations) - up to a 6800 mile distance. They appear to be fasting for much of this period.
