Migration Site of Gray Whales of Ulsan

Basic information

Designation

Natural Monument No.126

Category

동식물

Designated year

1962

Location

., 기타—

Coordinates

No precise coordinates are available, so this item is not shown as a map marker. To be added later.

This English description was machine-translated and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the original Korean text for details.

The gray whale is a coastal whale that appears almost ghostlike around rocky areas, hence its name, and is distributed only in the North Pacific. The gray whale population appearing along Korea's East Coast reproduces in the waters off the Korean Peninsula and Japan during winter and migrates north to the Okhotsk Sea in summer to feed. Gray whales average 13 meters in body length for males and 14.1 meters for females. They lack a dorsal fin, possessing only pectoral and tail fins. They primarily inhabit coastal waters with temperatures of 5-10 degrees Celsius, feeding on brine shrimp, fish roe, sea cucumbers, and plankton. With a one-year gestation period, they regularly give birth to one calf every two years. The Ulsan gray whale migration waters represent migration routes where gray whales, endangered by whaling, travel to breed. As an internationally protected endangered animal, gray whales are designated protected natural monuments in the nearby migration waters centered on the East Coast near Ulsan.