Family Eschrichtiidae (Grey Whales)

IDENTIFICATION
Grey Whales can be easily identified by their mottled grey colour and lack of a dorsal fin. They have a low hump, followed by a series of 10 to 12 knobs along the dorsal ridge of the tail stock, all readily seen as the animal arches to dive. There are two or three grooves on the throat that allow it to expand when feeding. Greys can grow to 15 metres long - the average for males is around 11 metres, and for females, about 11.5 metres. All Grey Whales have large clusters of parasitic barnacles (Cryptolepas rhachianecti) on their skin. They are also infested with thousands of parasitic amphipods, called whale lice, belonging to three species of the genus Cyamus. Two of these species are unique to the Grey Whale.

MEALS, MANNERS AND MIGRATION
Summer is feeding season for Grey Whales. Most spend the summer in the shallow waters of the northern and western Bering Sea, as well as in the adjacent waters of the Arctic Ocean, while some stay farther south, around Vancouver Island. Grey Whales are bottom feeders, sucking up large amounts of sediment and filtering out crustaceans with their baleen. They also feed on sardines and other surface fishes, herring eggs, and other organisms in the plankton.

Grey Whales are well known for their annual migrations. In November and early December, they begin the long migration southward to the shallow breeding waters around Baja California, travelling at a steady speed of about 9 km per hour (5 knots), day and night. They do not feed during the breeding season. From February to early May, they begin migrating northward again. By the time they reach the Arctic, they have lost 20 to 30 per cent of their body weight - as much as 10.5 tonnes. Each migration is about 8,000 km (5,000 miles).

STATUS
Due to its remarkable recovery since being protected in 1947, the eastern Pacific Grey Whale population appears to be near carrying capacity. COSEWIC has designated the Grey Whale to be not at risk.

DISTRIBUTION
The eastern Pacific population ranges from the Bering and Chukchi seas to Baja Mexico. A western Pacific population exists off Korea and the species once inhabited the Atlantic Ocean where it disappeared about 1500 AD.

Calving occurs in the warm waters of Baja California in winter. In spring the whales begin their migration northward along the coast of North America to summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. Along the way many animals stop off to summer off the west coast of Vancouver Island.