Gray whale

Once called ‘devil fish’ by whalers due to their fighting behavior when hunted

Merrill Gosho

They earn their common name by having grey patches and white mottling on their dark skin. Instead of a dorsal fin, they have a series of bumps along the dorsal ridge on the last third of their back. Interestingly, they have two blowholes on top of their head, which creates a heart-shaped blow at the surface when the wind is calm.

The Gray whale makes the furthest migration known by any mammal. Each spring and autumn, they migrate from their summer feeding water in the Arctic to the warm equatorial lagoons where the females give birth. The major threats to their population are increased risk of entanglement in fishing nets, pollution, and collisions with ships.

Distribution

Country
Population est.
Status
Year
Comments
Pacific ocean
2017
Arctic Ocean
2017
Atlantic Ocean
2017
Mediterranean Sea
2017
Okhotsk Sea
2017
Bering Sea
2017
Baltic Sea
2017
Japan Sea
2017
Canada
2017
China
2017
Iceland
2017
Possibly Extinct
Japan
2017
Korea
2017
Possibly Extinct
Mexico
2017
North Korea
2017
Possibly Extinct
Russia
2017
United Kingdom
0
Official estimate
EX
2017
Extinct by 1700s
United States
2017
Vietnam
2017
Presence Uncertain

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Terrestrial / Aquatic

Altricial / Precocial

Polygamous / Monogamous

Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic

Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal

Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Herd / Group

Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore

Migratory: Yes / No

Domesticated: Yes / No

Dangerous: Yes / No