Gray whale  (Eschrichtius robustus)

There are two main stocks of the gray whale; one occurs along the east Pacific coast from Baja California to the Bering and Chukchi seas, the other occurs in the west Pacific from South Korea to the Okhotsk Sea (2). The gray whale once also occurred in the Atlantic Ocean, but became extinct here in the late 17th to early 18th century (5).

This whale typically occurs in coastal waters no deeper than 100 metres (2). The eastern Pacific stock migrates annually from Arctic feeding grounds to breed in Mexican waters, whilst the western Pacific stock migrates along the east coast of Russia (6).