A female gray can grow from 35 to 50 feet and weigh as much as 30 - 35 tons while the male is smaller at 46 feet and 14 tons. The largest gray whale ever recorded was 51 feet long and weighed 39 tons. They are usually a blotchy gray with patches of light and darker colors. The whale comes to the surface to breath. Air is expelled through the blowholes on the its back, creating a spout.
Grays are curious and often playful in their movements.
Breaching is when the whale leaps almost clear of the water and falls back with a splash. Sounding is the term for showing it's flukes or tail. Spyhopping is when the whale propels itself vertically upward out of the water until it can see and can last from 10 to 30 seconds. The whale spends the summer and the early fall months in the arctic waters of the Chukchi and Bearing Seas feeding off bottom sediment before heading south to breed and for warmer waters. In the late fall, the whales start their 5000 mile migration south to Baja California, one of the longest trips for mammals.