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Gray Whales

© Fred J. Kane

Gray Whales. Eschrichtius robustus

The Gray Whale is a baleen whale, about 45 feet long and weighs up to 70,000 pounds and a protected species. They are bottom feeders. Each summer, the frosty Bering Sea and Alaskan Arctic Ocean between Alaska and Russia see thousands of gray whales seeking their favorite meals, rich tiny crustaceans called, an amphipod. These amphipods live in delicate cylinders they make in the sand.

Gray Whales have the greatest journey of any animal. The Gray Whales migrate from southern California and Baja California past the San Diego's coastline into the Bering Sea, and some go to the Bering Strait. Many of the migrating Gray Whales feed between Saint Lawrence Island and the Bering Straits. Gray Whales are most frequently seen off San Diego from late December through March. Some travel by themselves while other gather in groups of two or three and others travel with a dozen or more whales. Each year they swim about 55 miles each day and a total of about 5,000 miles between their summer feeding areas and their winter breeding grounds. By the last weeks of February the whales begin swimming northward. The Adult male Gray Whales, pregnant females and young leave first, followed by females and their calves.

The Gray Whales eat huge amounts of tiny animals. Adult Gray Whale consumes about 2,000 pounds of food each day. The main diet consists of small, shrimp like animals called amphipods that live on muddy ocean floors. The Gray Whales also eat tubeworms, mysids, small fishes, ghost shrimps and herring eggs. The Gray Whales dive to the bottom of the sea and roll to the side. They take a mouthful of sand and water along with the amphipods. They hold the amphipods on their baleen and then blow the sand and water out the other side of their mouth. Gray whales are the only whale that repeatedly feed on bottom. The Gray Whale eats huge amounts of tiny animals. Adult Gray Whale consumes about 2,000 pounds of food each day. The main component of their diet is small, shrimp-like animals called amphipods that live on muddy ocean floors. Amphipods are minute compared to gray whales. Gray whales also eat: tubeworms, mysids (another shrimp-like animal), small fishes, ghost shrimps and herring eggs. . Some gray whales start feeding when they reach the waters along Vancouver Island.

Gray Whales spend their winters, from the month of January to the month of March, in the warm waters of Baja, California and Mexico. Here in the waters of Baja, California the pregnant females give birth.