Eumetopias
Eumetopias is a genus of just one species (a “monotypic” genus) within the eared seal family of sixteen species - the Steller Sea Lion.
Eared seals include sea lions and fur seals. Together with the families of true seals and Walruses, Eared seals form the group of marine mammals known as Pinnipeds.
Eared seals differ from the true seals in having small external earflaps and hind flippers that can be turned to face forwards. Together with strong front flippers, this gives them extra mobility on land and an adult fur seal can move extremely fast across the beach if it has to. They also use their front flippers for swimming, whereas true seals use their hind flippers.
 Stellar Sea Lion. Source: Tom Early/BioLib/Encyclopedia of Life |
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Scientific Classification Kingdom: Anamalia (Animals) |
Steller's Sea Lion is found on the North Pacific coasts.
The world population of Steller's sea lions has been undergoing a mysterious decline; since 1980, numbers have dropped from over 300,000 individuals to fewer than 100,000. Despite this well-documented and worrying decline, the causes are still being debated. The species is listed as "Endangered."
Like other Eared seals, the male Stellar Sea Lion is considerably larger than the female.
For details, see Stellar Sea Lion.
Further Reading
- Eumetopias Encyclopedia of Life (accessed April 8, 2009)
- Seal Conservation Society (accessed April 8, 2009)
- The Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses, Marianne Riedman, University of California Press, 1991 ISBN: 0520064984
- Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Bernd Wursig, Academic Press, 2002 ISBN: 0125513402
- Marine Mammal Research: Conservation beyond Crisis, edited by John E. Reynolds III, William F. Perrin, Randall R. Reeves, Suzanne Montgomery and Timothy J. Ragen, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 ISBN: 0801882559
- Walker's Mammals of the World, Ronald M. Nowak, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN: 0801857899
