gray whale

noun
1.
a grayish-black whalebone whale, Eschrichtius robustus, of the North Pacific, growing to a length of 50 feet (15.2 meters): now rare.
Origin
1855-60
Examples from the web for gray whale
  • Whale-watchers often reach out of the boats and physically touch a gray whale.
  • The winter season brings the southern gray whale and half-day trips.
  • Because the gray whale migrates so close to shore, this offers a great opportunity for whale watchers and researchers.
  • Though virtually all populations of large whales are greatly reduced, the gray whale population is an exception.
  • Both the gray whale off of our west coast and the right whale off of our east coast were hunted to the verge of extinction.
Encyclopedia Article for gray whale

a slender baleen whale having a profusion of external parasites that give it the appearance of a barnacle-encrusted rock

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