THE TALE OF A WHALE : PUBLIC COMES TO ADORE BABY GRAY.

Byline: Stacy Finz Daily News Staff Writer

Shamu? Shamu who?

It looks like J.J., Los Angeles' orphaned baby gray whale, is stealing the show at Sea World these days. She's got the largest pool on the lot, her own 800 number, plenty of fan mail and a movie deal in the works.

Practically comatose, the calf was brought to the San Diego marine park on a stretcher nearly five weeks ago with little hope for survival.

But Sunday the 2,698-pound baby mammal performed for a standing-room-only crowd of thousands, who came to watch her swim back and forth underwater from behind a glass viewing panel.

She was just put on display Saturday, and her adoring fans oohed and aahed every time she pressed her face against the sturdy barrier.

``Sometimes it's hard to remember that we have other animals here,'' said spokeswoman Kina Scudi. ``It's kind of funny how having a baby changes your life.''

Don't think all the attention hasn't paid off for J.J. She's moved out of her smaller pool, where she was in quarantine, into the recently built 1.7 million-gallon tank intended for Sea World's famous killer whales.

The exhibit was previously the Shamu Backstage attraction but is the only pool at the park big enough to allow J.J. to grow to her expected 15,000 pounds and 55-foot length. The killer whales will get their exhibit back when J.J. is returned to the ocean in 1998.

``She's at a perfect age to adapt to the larger pool,'' said Thomas Reidarson, a Sea World veterinarian. ``And there is no way around the people. Folks want to see her.''

Reidarson said park officials don't believe that the public viewings will ruin her chance for survival in the wild.

The 5- to 6-week-old calf has captured the hearts of Southern Californians, who followed her exciting rescue off Venice Beach on Jan. 11 and her quick recovery at Sea World.

``I think it's fantastic that they saved her and are making this effort to return her back to the sea,'' said JoAnn Pearson, who with her husband and 2-year-old daughter came from Santa Ana to visit the park and see J.J. The family stood close to the window Sunday, delighted that they got a close-up view of the baby whale.

Pearson, like many, followed news updates on J.J.'s progress. Hundreds sent the baby gray get-well cards.

Bijan Nouzari, an elementary school student from La Crescenta, wrote, ``I am very glad that lots of people love you.''

Another card said, ``I hope you find your mother on a pod of gray whales.'' It was simply signed, Alex K.

In the first week at the park, J.J. got 2,600 phone calls from well-wishers.

But now she has her own Sea World hotline extension, which gives regular updates on her health: (800) 23-SHAMU.

Then there's her lead role in a coming film. A video, documenting the orphaned baby's turnaround, is scheduled for screening at the Whale Festival on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23 in Oxnard.

Last month the newborn gray whale, its umbilical cord still attached, washed ashore on Venice Beach, then spent the day stranded in Marina del Rey harbor. Experts presume it became separated from its mother during the annual migration of the mammals from Alaska to Baja California.

Lifeguards were never able to find the baby's mother. A team of Los Angeles police officers, lifeguards and beachgoers rescued the mammal, hoisted her onto a refrigerated truck and rushed her to San Diego.

She was named after the late Judi Jones, the former director of the animal rescue organization Friends of the Sea Lion in Laguna.

Since being moved to the park, the calf has grown 20 inches in length and gained 900 pounds at the rate of 1.2 pounds an hour. Initially she had to be fed with a stomach tube, but now the gray sucks 70 liters of formula a day from a bottle.

Reidarson said, ``I consider her survival a miracle.''

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Photo: (Color) All eyes were on Sea World's baby gray whale, J.J., as she made the rounds Sunday in her new observation tank.

Sea World