No, whales do not lay eggs.
In fact whales are marine mammals, which means they share many of the same distinctive features as other mammalian species.
Some of these features include breathing air, going through pregnancy (commonly referred to as a gestation period) and giving birth, being born with hair (some species of whale actually have hair when they are born), being a warm-blooded species and having milk producing glands (i.e. mammary glands) to feed their young.
These same characteristics are also present among the dolphin and porpoise species.
Together whales, dolphin and porpoise make up the collective cetacean family, which contains 80 – 90 different species of marine mammals.
Unlike cetaceans fish and amphibians do lay eggs and are not considered marine mammals.
In fact fish are very different from marine mammals as they are generally cold-blooded (fish do not require heat or body fat to survive in cold environments), they are not born with hair, they breathe through gills designed to extract oxygen directly from the water (fish do not breathe air) and they do not produce milk.
When a fishes eggs hatch the newborn offspring are left to fend for food and survive on its own.
These aquatic animals aren’t nurtured or cared for by their mother.
Instead of taking care of her offspring a female fish can lay thousands of eggs over the course of a year to maximize her chances of passing her genes on for the next generation.
To help the newborns when they first hatching many species of fish carry a sack which feeds them until they are able to find their own food.
Female whales on the other hand give birth to a single offspring once every 1 – 6 years depending on the species and nurse their children when they are first-born.
These marine mammals produce milk which they use to feed their young until they are able to hunt and survive on their own.
Unlike fish female whales generally develop close protective relationships with their children, at least for the first couple of years after their birth.
As stated earlier one huge difference between fish and whales when it comes to giving birth is the fact that fish can lay hundreds or thousands of eggs in a single year while a female whale generally gives birth to a single offspring once every 1 – 6 years.
Lastly, there is a huge difference in terms of how these two animals survive.
Whales are generally large marine mammals that use their large size and pods to protect them from potential predators.
Because fish are much smaller in size they are not as well protected as large whales.
These marine animals tend to travel in large swarms that can contain thousands of fish, which helps minimize the chances of any single fish being eaten.
Producing thousands of offspring also helps fish increase the likelihood of their genes being passed on should several or even hundreds of their offspring fall prey to a predator.
As you can see not only are whales very different from fish, they also resemble many of the same characteristics of land mammals including giving birth and nursing their young.
To sum it all up whales do not lay eggs, nor are they cold-blooded, gill bearing animals.
They are a child raring, warm-blooded, air-breathing, socially diverse community of marine mammals that nurse and take care of their offspring.