[51][52][53] That study suggested that over the past 100,000 years there have been several migrations of gray whales between the Pacific and Atlantic, with the most recent large scale migration of this sort occurring about 5000 years ago. [10] Even so, on May 8, 2010, a sighting of a gray whale was confirmed off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea,[11] leading some scientists to think they might be repopulating old breeding grounds that have not been visited for centuries. [31], Two Pacific Ocean populations are known to exist: one population that is very low, whose migratory route is presumed to be between the Sea of Okhotsk and southern Korea, and a larger one with a population of about 27,000 individuals in the eastern Pacific traveling between the waters off northernmost Alaska and Baja California Sur.

[24], Many other names have been ascribed to the gray whale, including desert whale,[25] devilfish, gray back, mussel digger and rip sack. By late December to early January, eastern grays begin to arrive in the calving lagoons and bays on the west coast of Baja California Sur.

This round trip of 16,000–22,000 km (9,900–13,700 mi) is believed to be the longest annual migration of any mammal. [121] There have been eight to fifteen sightings and stray records including unconfirmed sightings and re-sightings of the same individual, and one later killed by net-entanglement. Gray whales feed benthically, by diving to the ocean floor and rolling on to their side, (gray whales, like blue whales seem to favor rolling onto their right side) and suck up prey from the sea floor.
The gray whale (also known as the grey whale) is a medium-sized whale found mainly in the North Pacific Ocean. They will separate the calf from the mother and hold the calf under water to drown it. They had been seasonal migrants to coastal waters of both sides of Atlantic, including the Baltic Sea,[41][42] Wadden Sea, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Bay of Fundy, Hudson Bay (possibly),[43] and Pamlico Sound. [151] Several hundred more were probably caught by American and European whalemen in the Sea of Okhotsk from the 1840s to the early 20th century.

Like all whales, gray whales surface to breathe, so migrating groups are often spotted from North America's west coast.

[24] Remains dating from the Roman epoch were found in the Mediterranean during excavation of the antique harbor of Lattara near Montpellier, France in 1997, raising the question of whether Atlantic gray whales migrated up and down the coast of Europe from Wadden Sea to calve in the Mediterranean. Gray whales have been granted protection from commercial hunting by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) since 1949, and are no longer hunted on a large scale.
The last confirmed record in Korean waters was the sighting of a pair off Bangeojin, Ulsan in 1977. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from, Daley, J. Brownell Jr., R. L. and Swartz, S. L. 2006.

Photograph by Konrad Wothe, Minden Pictures/Nat Geo Image Collection, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/g/gray-whale.html. Off Vancouver Island, gray whales commonly feed on mysids. (2005).

South Korea and China list gray whales as protected species of high concern.

In three months, he caught 47 cows, yielding 1,700 barrels (270 m3) of oil. The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus),[1] also known as the grey whale,[4] gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, or California gray whale,[5] is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly.

This is known as the dorsal ridge.

Gray whales stay close to shore and feed in shallow water. This hunt has been allowed under an "aboriginal/subsistence whaling" exception to the commercial-hunting ban. The gray whale goes by many names, including the Pacific gray whale and the California gray whales. [90].

Like all whales, gray whales surface to breathe, so migrating groups are often spotted from North America's west coast.

[113], It is also unknown whether any winter breeding grounds ever existed beyond Chinese coasts.

They have been hunted for thousands of years but it was commercial whaling that had the biggest impact.

[26] The name Eschrichtius gibbosus is sometimes seen; this is dependent on the acceptance of a 1777 description by Erxleben.[27].

Circumstantial evidence indicates whaling could have contributed to this population's decline, as the increase in whaling activity in the 17th and 18th centuries coincided with the population's disappearance. By comparison, Blue Whales are 80 to 100 feet long and Orca Whales / Killer of Whales can grow 15 to 25 feet long. Gray whales used to be called ‘devil-fish’ for allegedly attacking the boats of those hunting them, which may have been partly due to defence of their young. Conservation. They then sieve out the water and silt through their baleen, trapping the food behind.

By mid-February to mid-March, the bulk of the population has arrived in the lagoons, filling them with nursing, calving and mating gray whales.

Support WDC by shopping for yourself or a friend. Together, we can: Adopt a whale and help us protect these amazing creatures. The whales winter and breed in the shallow southern waters and balmier climate. Retrieved from, Mark Carwardine, 2019, Foraging patterns of gray whales in central Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada. It is classified as a baleen whale and has baleen, or whalebone, which acts like a sieve, to capture small sea animals, including amphipods taken in along with sand, water and other material. A world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free.

The much smaller western subpopulation summers in the Okhotsk Sea.