Winter is not only time for festive cheer and spending time with friends and family, it’s also the season for the gray whale migration! Like people, many animal species migrate, or move from one place to another. Some of the most well known migratory species are birds, but many different types of tuna and sharks migrate. The gray whale is a seasonal migratory type of whale that begins its migration in September–October and arrives in Baja California in late December. 

Imagine a herd of school buses swimming the 12,000 miles from the Arctic to California, once every year! The Eastern gray whale might not be the same color as a school bus, but they are roughly the same size and make the same yearly journey. Eastern gray whales feed in the Arctic from May to September and begin the longest journey of any migratory animal, 12,000 miles, in September-October. They average about 75 miles a day, arriving in one of the four Baja lagoons off the coast of California. January–March is the ideal time to see gray whales off the coast of California. They begin their migration back to the Arctic in January to late March. It was recently reported that a gray whale traveled over halfway across the world (16,700 miles), setting a new world record!

Gray whales migrate in pods in order to shelter and feed in a warmer climate. Pregnant female whales mate in the waters of the California lagoons the year prior and give birth and raise their young after completing their migration. The babies are most often born in the time between January and March. Other whales use the same time to mate. Like many other marine mammals, whales also migrate in order to maintain their usual food source. Gray whales feed on small animals that live in the sediment of the sea floor. 

Unlike the Eastern gray whale, the Western gray whale is suspected to migrate to Eastern Russia. Not much is known about the migration of the Western whale due to their small population; they are endangered with about 200 left in the world. While their Eastern counterpart was once considered endangered as well, international conservation efforts and the Marine Mammal Protection Act have restored their thriving population. However, that is not to say that these whales are not under threat, especially during migration season. Their predictable route and friendly nature have made these whales a target for illegal commercial fishers. The effects of climate change have also been known to cause the whales to seek new hunting areas and to confuse their migration patterns. It is important that we do everything in our power to keep our gray whales migrating!

Jingle bells are out and Jingle Shells are in! This holiday season our spotlight species is the Jingle Shell, otherwise known as Anomia simplex. This animal is a bivalve mollusk, meaning its form is composed of two tough shells connected at the hinge, or beak, that create a cavity large enough for the invertebrate animal. One of the shells is concave, which creates the cavity, and the other shell is flat, which allows the animal to easily attach itself to fixed structures such as docks, wood, or boulders. The Jingle Shell is a marine bivalve and is closely related to more commonly known species of its family such as American oysters and scallops. What distinguishes the more flamboyant Jingle Shell is, of course, its shell! The shell of Anomia simplex is typically translucent, extremely thin, and ranges in colors from yellow to gray to warm copper tones. 

Beachgoers are likely to find the shells of our spotlight species on the Eastern coast of North America, but the Jingle Shell’s native range extends all the way to Brazil. While many may not know the origins of Anomia simplex' common name, it is safe to say that the shaking of shells in hand is a fairly universal experience for tourists and ocean lovers alike. When Jingle Shells are collected and shaken together, the noise of the shells is comparable to a “jingle,” which gives Anomia simplex its easily recognizable and festive common name! Aside from the festive jingling, these shells have been collected by humans for shell art projects or to be ground into a pigmented powder for paints or chalks. Luckily this bivalve has escaped some of the human pressures that endanger its freshwater counterparts, such as overharvesting for consumption or to create shell buttons. The Jingle Shell is still considered a common species and is found in abundance, so with any luck your next trip to the beach will have you singing ‘jingle shells all the way!’