Charles Melville Scammon's 1874 illustration of a gray whale

Description Eschrichtius robustus
Date 1872
Source Natural history of the cetaceans and other marine mammals of the western coast of North America http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24230767M/Natural_history_of_the_cetaceans_and_other_marine_mammals_of_the_western_coast_of_North_America
Author Charles Melville Scammon (1825–1911) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Melville_Scammon
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eschrichtius_robustus1.jpg

The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), also known as the grey whale, gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, or California gray whale is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9 meters, a weight of 36 tonnes, and lives between 55 and 70 years. 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. The gray whale is the sole living species in the genus Eschrichtius, which in turn is the sole living genus in the family Eschrichtiidae. Order: Artiodactyla, Infraorder: Cetacea, Family: Eschrichtiidae, Genus: Eschrichtius, Species: Eschrichtius robustus Lilljeborg, 1861.
Balaena gibbosa Erxleben, 1777
Agaphelus glaucus Cope, 1868
Rhachianectes glaucus Cope, 1869
Eschrichtius gibbosus Van Deinse & Junge, 1937
Eschrichtius glaucus Maher, 1961