Gray whale
Depth: 40 m · Sunlight Zone
The gray whale digs at the seafloor: it rolls onto its side and sucks in mud to sieve out small crustaceans. Barnacles grow on its skin. It makes one of the longest migrations of any mammal, from the Arctic to Mexico.
For scientists
The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is a bottom filter feeder: it sucks sediment from the seafloor and presses it through short, coarse baleen to filter out amphipods and other small crustaceans, usually lying on one side. Its migration between Arctic feeding grounds and subtropical lagoons, over 16,000 km, is among the longest of any mammal. Its skin carries whole communities of barnacles and whale lice.
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