Grey Whale
Eschrichtius robustus

Description - The grey whale is mottled grey with numerous white, yellow or orange patches of barnacles and parasites around the blowhole, on top of the head, and on the fore part of the back. Males are 35-50 feet, 28-38 tons; females 42-50 feet, 34-38 tons. This is the scruffiest of the great whales.

Distribution - Grey whales occur in the shallow coastal waters of the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas with small populations from Oregon to southeast Alaska. In the spring they migrate to summer feeding grounds in Alaska.

Biology - The grey whale is is the only bottom feeding whale; it scoops and filters amphipod crustaceans from the mud; this explains why they are so comfortable in the shallow coastal waters. A single calf is born every other year. There are more than 23 000 gray whales; once nearly extinct, they are now fully recovered and have been removed off of the Endangered Species List.