gray whale

[ grey hweyl, weyl ]

noun

1. a grayish-black baleen whale, Eschrichtius robustus, of the North Pacific, growing to a length of 50 feet (15.2 meters): an endangered species.

Word History and Origins

Origin of gray whale¹

First recorded in 1830–35

Example Sentences

"These impacts extend indirectly to a top predator, the gray whale, and it affects them in a negative way."

From Science Daily

He recounts a gruesome attack, seen in “Lower California,” by a trio of killer whales on a gray whale and her baby.

From Los Angeles Times

Joshua Stewart, a quantitative ecologist at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, who was not an author on the paper, estimates the gray whale population was reduced by half during the most recent mortality event.

From Los Angeles Times

The “unusual mortality event” that led to hundreds of gray whale carcasses washing up on the West Coast shoreline has ended, researchers say.

From Los Angeles Times

But a gray whale it was, a sighting the aquarium described in a statement on Tuesday as “an incredibly rare event.”

From New York Times