Gray whale
Baleen whale that is the sole living member of Eschrichtius
The gray whale, also known as the grey whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9–15.2 m (49–50 ft), a weight of up to 41 to 45 tonnes and lives between 55 and 70 years, although one female was estimated to be 75–80 years of age. One of the longest-living gray whales currently is a female, first sighted in 1977, and estimated to be 53–55 years old as of 2024. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called "devil fish" because of their fighting behavior when hunted, with mothers accompanied by their calves fighting viciously to protect their young if they are attacked. The gray whale is the sole living species in the genus Eschrichtius. It is the sole living genus in the family Eschrichtiidae; however, some recent studies classify it as a member of the family Balaenopteridae. This mammal is descended from filter-feeding whales that appeared during the Neogene.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gray whale” as baleen whale that is the sole living member of Eschrichtius. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as baleen whale that is the sole living member of Eschrichtius. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1977 and 2024.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gray whale” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.