Fur seals were collected where the sur- 

 face water temperatures ranged from 7° to 

 13° C. 



Eighty-eight percent of the total seals ob- 

 served in 1964 were in groups of three or 

 less. The largest group sighted off California 

 contained 10 seals; a group of 6 seals was the 

 largest seen in the Bering Sea. 



More males (20) were collected off Cali- 

 fornia in 1964 than in 1958, 1959, or 1961. 

 Four-year-old males were the oldest collected 

 off California prior to the collection of a 

 5-year-old in 1964. Males form only a small 

 part of the California fur seal population and 

 appear later in the spring than the females. 

 By April and May, nnost nnature females are 

 migrating northward and immature females 

 are dominant. 



The state of reproductive organs of male 

 and female pairs collected at sea neither 

 proved nor disproved mating at sea. 



The percentage of tagged seals in collec- 

 tions by research vessels increased from 0.9 

 percent in 1958 to 4.9 percent in 1964. A 4- 

 year-old female fur seal tagged on Bering 

 Island by the U.S.S.R. was collected in 1964. 



Nulliparous females formed about 40 percent 

 of the fennales in April and May off California. 

 The ovaries of 27 3-year-old fennales from 

 the Bering Sea indicated that 7 of these 

 animals might have given birth to pups at 

 age 4. 



The variations in pregnancy rates for seals 

 off California and in the Bering Sea were 

 irregular and probably reflect differences 

 among subpopulations rather than a trend in 

 the pregnancy rate. 



Data collected since 1958 indicate that preg- 

 nancies occur in the left uterine horn more 

 often than in the right. Numbers of male and 

 female fetuses are approximately equal. 



Algae and gooseneck barnacles were on 

 guard hairs of more fur seals collected off 

 California in 1964 than in previous years, 

 when the seals were taken earlier in the year. 

 Algae were identified as Ectocarpus sp. and 

 barnacles as Lepas pectinata pacifica and 

 L. anatifera . 



Of the 876 stomachs examined in 1964, 72 

 percent contained food. 



Thirty-three species, genera, or fannilies 

 of food were identified from fur seal stonnachs 

 collected in 1964. 



Merluccius productus was the major food in 

 fur seal stomachs collected off California, 

 Oregon, and Washington. Squids were most 

 important in stonnachs from the Bering Sea, 

 followed by Clupea harengus pallasi, Theragra 

 chalcogrammus , Bathylagidae, and Mallotus 

 villosus . 



Anarhichadids, one of which was identified 

 as Anarhichas orientalis , were identified for 

 the first time in fur seal stomachs since re- 

 ported by Lucas in 1899. 



Miscellaneous objects in fur seal stomachs 

 in 1964 included: unidentified bird feathers, 

 organic material, a parasitic isopod, frag- 

 ments of MoUusca and Cirripedia, and stones. 



On the basis of volume and frequency of 

 occurrence of connmercially important food 

 species in fur seal stomachs, predation by 

 fur seals on commercial species appears 

 negligible. 



LITERATURE CITED 



AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



1960. A list of common and scientific nannes 

 of fishes from the United States and 

 Canada. 2d ed. Its Special Publication 

 2, 102 p. 



ANDRIASHEV, ANATOLY P. 



1937. K poznaniyu ikhtiofauny Beringova i 

 chukotskogo morei. Inst. Hydro., 

 Leningrad, Explor., Mers URSS, fasc. 

 25:295-355. (A contribution to the knowl- 

 edge of the fishes from the Bering Sea 

 and Chukchi Seas. Translated by Lisa 

 Lanz and Norman J. Wilimovsky, U.S. 

 Fish Wildl. Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 

 145, ii + 81 p., 1955.) 



1954. Ryby severnykh morei SSSR. Izdatel' 

 stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, Moskva- 

 Leningrad. (Fishes of the northern seas 

 of the U.S.S.R. Translated by Michael 

 Artman, Israel Program for Scientific 

 Translations, 617 p., 1964.) 

 BERRY, S. STILLMAN. 



1912. A review of the cephalopods of western 

 North America. Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish. 

 30:267-336, pis. 32-56. (Doc. 761.) 

 BEST, E. A. 



1963. Greenland halibut, Reinhardtius hip- 

 poglossoides (Walbaum), added to Cali- 

 fornia fauna. Calif. Fish Game 49(3): 

 213-214. 



CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND 

 GAME. 



1964. The California marine fish catch for 

 1962. Its Fish Bull. 125, 45 p. 



CHAPMAN, W. M. 



1943. The osteology and relationships of 

 the bathypelagic fishes of the genus 

 Bathylagus Gunther with notes on the 

 systennatic position of Leuroglossus 

 stilbius Gilbert and Therobromus cal- 

 lorhmus Lucas. J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 

 33(5):147-160. 



CLEMENS, W. A., and G. V. WILBY. 



1961. Fishes of the Pacific coast of Canada. 

 2d ed. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada, Bull. 

 68, 368 p. 



CLOTHIER, CHARLES R. 



1950. A key to some southern California 

 fishes based on vertebral characters. 

 Calif. Div. Fish Game, Fish Bull. 79, 

 83 p. 



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