We’re Having a Whale of a Time

We’re Having a Whale of a Time

We’re entering our last week here at the Kelp Forest. We sure have had a blast. Today we boarded the SS Ellie and and Edmond and went whale watching. We have met humpbacks off the coast of California, but we have never spotted the gray whale. So we headed out to find these giants of the deep.

Date: 1/23

Location: Off the California coast

Gray Whale Fun Facts:

• Gray whales are baleen whales. They have plates of fine hair to filter out the tiny food they eat.
• Their baleen is a cream color, unlike other baleen whales with black colored baleen.
• Most gray whale lay on their right side to scoop sediment from the ocean floor.
• Gray whales have two v-shaped blowholes on top of their head.
• Gray whales have no dorsal fin, instead sport a bumpy dorsal ridge.

• They are often covered in barnacles.
• The Northern pacific population of grey whales is the largest population in the world.

We had such a fabulous time watching for these migrating giants. We love whales. Gray whales were almost hunted to extinction, but with protections put in place their populations grew and the Pacific populations are now stable.