The Gray (or Grey) Whale (Eschrichtius
robustus) is a
whale
that travels between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It
reaches a length of about 16 meters (52 ft), a weight of 36
tons
and an age of 50–60 years. Gray Whales were once called Devil
Fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted. The
Gray Whale is the sole species in the
genus
Eschrichtius, which in turn is the sole genus in
the
family Eschrichtiidae. This animal is descended from
the filter-feeding whales that developed at the beginning of the
Oligocene, over 30 million years before the present.
The Gray Whale is distributed in a eastern North Pacific (American) population and a critically endangered western North Pacific (Asian) population. A third population in the North Atlantic became extinct in the 18th century.
