Eschrichtius

Eschrichtius is a genus of baleen whale containing two species: the gray whale and the extinct Akishima whale (E. akishimaensis).

Eschrichtius

José Eugenio Gómez Rodríguez · CC BY 3.0 · 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
EschrichtiidaePBDB
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 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 45 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 45 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 12 of 45 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 31 of 45 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 38 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

45 occurrences of Eschrichtius 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

45 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

11 formations

Yuchi — 44.89°N, 141.75°EIchikawa shell bed — 35.72°N, 139.42°EGubik — 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°WLillo — 51.28°N, 4.26°EAlexander Bay — 30.32°S, 17.29°EOofuna shell bed — 35.33°N, 139.50°E

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The named rock units Eschrichtius has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 34 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

100 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Eschrichtius, 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

26 references

Each of the 45 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. 14 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 content3

Picture of Eschrichtius

Credit
José Eugenio Gómez Rodríguez
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Eschrichtius robustus · l-aps:R-2

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itEschrichtiidae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gray 1864)