First Record of a Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) on the Okhotsk Sea Coast of Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

On 20 July 2020, the partial skeletal of a gray whale was found on the coast near the mouth of Notoro Lagoon in Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan, facing the southern Okhotsk Sea (44.105° N, 144.175° E). This is the first confirmed stranding of a gray whale on the Hokkaido coast of the Okhotsk Sea. The recovered bones were a posterior part of skull, the right mandible, four caudal and one caudal or lumbar vertebrae, two epiphyseal plates and a single phalanx. The length of the right mandible was 150 cm in a straight line. The body length was estimated 790 cm by the length of mandible, which means the whale was less than one year old at the time of death.