Eschrichtiidae

Eschrichtiidae or the gray whales is a family of baleen whale with a single extant species, the gray whale, as well as four described fossil genera: Archaeschrichtius (Miocene), Glaucabalaena and Eschrichtioides (Pliocene) from Italy, and Gricetoides from the Pliocene of North Carolina. Some phylogenetic studies have found this family to be invalid, with its members nesting inside of the clade Balaenopteridae. The names of the extant genus and the family honours Danish zoologist Daniel Eschricht.

Eschrichtiidae

Marine Mammal Commission · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
gray whalePBDB
Sits inside
BalaenopteroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivore, suspension feederPBDB, for Mysticeti
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mysticeti
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mysticeti

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 2 of 54 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 54 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 13 of 54 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 31 of 54 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–4.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.4–4.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.0–3.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.6–3.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.2–2.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.8–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.6–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–809 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 38 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

54 occurrences of Eschrichtiidae on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

54 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

18 formations

Sabbie d'Asti — 44.96°N, 8.06°ESabbie d'Asti — 44.85°N, 8.25°ETogawa — 40.43°N, 141.33°EYuchi — 44.89°N, 141.75°EIchikawa shell bed — 35.72°N, 139.42°EPietra Leccese — 40.33°N, 18.19°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WGubik — 70.50°N, 153.50°WSatilla — 31.60°N, 80.79°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WRio Dell — 40.51°N, 124.10°WKomiya — 35.70°N, 139.37°EWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WOmma — 36.54°N, 136.73°ELillo — 51.28°N, 4.26°EAlexander Bay — 30.32°S, 17.29°EBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WSabbie di Asti — 44.90°N, 8.20°EOofuna shell bed — 35.33°N, 139.50°E

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The named rock units Eschrichtiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 35 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

572 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 52 sites for Eschrichtiidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

35 references

Each of the 54 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 23 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Eschrichtiidae

Credit
Marine Mammal Commission
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBalaenopteroidea through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ellerman and Morrisson-Scott 1951