Gray Whales

Eschrichtiidae or the gray whales (British English: grey whales) is a family of baleen whale (Parvorder Mysticeti) with a single extant species, the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), 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.