GRAY WHALE

Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) breaching. (Eschrichtius robustus, sometimes classified as E. glaucus or E. gibbosus), slender-bodied baleen whale, the only living member of the family Eschrichtiidae. The gray whale attains a maximum length of about 15 m (49 feet). It is gray or black, mottled with white, and has short, yellow baleen; two (rarely more) lengthwise grooves on its throat; and, instead of a dorsal fin, a row of low humps on its back. It is noted for its preference for shore waters rather than the open sea. The gray whale occurs in two distinct populations. One inhabits the Sea of Okhotsk in summer, migrating south in winter to breed off southern Korea. The other summers in the Bering and Chukchi seas and travels south to winter breeding grounds along the coast of Baja California. The gray whale was hunted almost to extinction by 1925 but was placed under complete international protection and since the 1940s has increased in numbers.