Identification Photos: California Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus: The California Gray Whale, an air-breathing mammal and member of the Baleen Family, is a winter visitor to northern Mexican waters, making a 12,500-mile round-trip journey that requires 2 to 3 months from Alaska every other year. The California Gray Whale leaves Alaskan waters in mid-November and follows the coast south, staying within 50 miles of the coast, averaging 3 to 6 m.p.h. In the lagoons along the Pacific the California Gray Whale mates and spawns, and then heads north from mid-January to May.

The adult male California Gray Whale is 36.5 to 48 feet in length and weighs between 30 and 37 tons. The female is slightly larger. The California Gray Whale has a stocky muscular body with triangular shaped head, and is mottled gray in color. It has two long pointed flippers, a tail or fluke that is 10 to 12 feet wide, and a tongue that weighs 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. The California Gray Whale does not have a dorsal fin but has 6 to 12 bumps or ridges along the back which are known as crenulations. It has two blow holes for breathing and normally breathes at 5 to 15 minute intervals consuming 2,100 quarts of air with each breath.

The California Gray Whale is able to dive to 1,600 feet and can stay down for 30 minutes. It is normally covered with whale lice and barnacles. The California Grey Whale mates every other year with a 13-month gestation period. The calves arrive in late December to early February and are born 15 feet in length and weighing between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds. The calves drink between 50 and 80 pounds of mothers' milk per day and normally stay with the mother for one year. The babies can usually swim on their own within 30 minutes of birth.

The California Grey Whale does most of its feeding during the summer in Alaskan waters, eating small benthic (creatures that live on the bottom) shrimp-like amphipods (2 to 50 mm) that it collects from mud in 500-foot deep water. The California Gray Whale is the only sea floor feeder of the whales. When in Mexican waters it consumes very little food which is limited to schools of krill, small fish, and kelp.

The California Gray Whale has an average life span of 50 years and was hunted to near extinction as recently as the 1930s but has returned to normal populations estimated to be 26,000 globally, of which 20,000 reside in the Eastern Tropical Pacific and 6,000 make the annual migration to Mexico. The California Gray Whale is no longer considered to be an endangered species.

California Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus: "Caught on film" with Capt. Pata in the panga Salomé, La Playita, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico, midmorning in April 2003, in 74-degree water, about 20 miles north of La Playita. Present by the hundreds in March and April. They can sneak up on a drifting panga and are often "heard before it is seen." Seen by locals as potentially dangerous and should be viewed from a distance of not less than 30 yards. Description and photos courtesy John Snow.