Northern Fur Seal (Arctocephalus galapagoensis)

Description: Despite their name, fur seal are actually in the sea lion or “eared seal” family. Fur seals are smaller and have much thicker coats than their local relatives, measuring between 5 and 7 feet long and weighing 150 to 600 lbs. Their dense fur made them a popular target in the fur trade of 1800s, and greatly decreased their population. Today, seals of all species have been protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but Northern Fur Seal numbers are still considered depleted in Eastern Pacific region. Due to their small population size it is rare to see them in Oregon, but they have been spotted resting on beaches near Haystack when ill or injured. If you see a fur seal on the beach call the Seaside Aquarium to report it to the Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

Habitat: Northern fur seals live in the North Pacific from the coast of Japan to California and Baja California, Mexico. They can be found as far North as the East coast of Russia and coastal Alaska. Fur seals are primarily a pelagic species, meaning that they spend most of their lives in the ocean swimming and hunting, only hauling out on land to occasionally rest and during breeding season.

Diet: Consuming a wide variety of fish and invertebrates, Northern fur seals are known to be opportunistic hunters. Studies have shown that they eat herring, mackerel, and Pacific sand lance when they are near breeding rookeries, but their diets are less known when they are in open ocean.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• Northern fur seals have 46,500 hairs per square centimeter.

• They have the longest flippers in the eared seal family, making them very efficient on land and can even climb up cliffs.

• Like many eared seals, Northern fur seals are sexually dimorphic, meaning that males and females have different appearances. In this case, males are are often times 1/3 larger than females.

References: NOAA