Genus MONACHUS Fleming, 1822 



Monachus monachus Hermann, 1779 (Medi- 

 terranean monk seal). Monk seals are 

 thinly scattered along the Anatolian coast 

 of the Black Sea, the coasts and islands 

 of the Mediterranean Sea, the coast of 

 northwestern Africa, southwestward to 

 Cap Blanc (Mauritania), and in the 

 Madeira and Canary Islands. Nearly ex- 

 tinct; the population probably does not 

 exceed 500 (International Union for Con- 

 servation of Nature and Natural Re- 

 sources, 1966). 



Monachus tropicalis Gray, 1850 (Caribbean 

 monk seal). The former range included 

 shores and islands of the Greater Antilles, 

 the Bahamas, the Yucatan Peninsula, and 

 the Florida Keys. Probably now extinct 

 (International Union for Conservation of 

 Nature and Natural Resources, 1966). 



Monachus schauinslandi Matschie, 1905 

 (Hawaiian monk seal). Breeds on Leeward 

 Chain of the Hawaiian Islands, from 

 French Frigate Shoals to Kure Atoll; 

 wanders southeastward to Hawaii. 



Genus LOBODON Gray, 1844 



Lobodon carcinophagus Hombron and 

 Jacquinot, 1842 (crabeater seal). Crab- 

 eaters are circumpolar and abundant in 

 pack ice of the Southern Ocean; they 

 straggle to southern tips of New Zealand, 

 Australia, Tasmania, and South America. 



Genus OMMATOPHOCA Gray, 1844 



Ommatophoca rossi Gray, 1844 (Ross seal). 

 Circumpolar in pack ice of Antarctic 

 Ocean. 



Genus HYDRURGA Gistel, 1848 



Hydrurga leptonyx Blainville, 1820 (leopard 

 seal). Leopard seals are circumpolar in 

 the Southern Ocean and are recorded 

 from most subantarctic islands, as well 

 as the southern tips of New Zealand, 

 Australia, South Annerica, and South 

 Africa. 



Genus LEPTONYCHOTES Gill, 1872 



Leptonychotes weddelli Lesson, 1826 

 (Weddell seal). Circumpolar in fast ice 

 around Antarctica, south to lat. 80° S. in 

 the Bay of Whales; straggling to sub- 

 antarctic islands and as far north as 

 Uruguay, lat. 35° S. 



Genus CYSTOPHORA Nilsson, 1820 



Cystophora cristata Erxleben, 1777 (hooded 

 seal; bladdernose seal). North Atlantic 

 Ocean at edges of ice from Novaya 

 Zemlya to eastern Canada. Jan Mayen 

 and Newfoundland breeding stocks are 

 perhaps distinct. 



Genus MIROUNGA Gray, 1827 (elephant seals) 



Mirounga leonina Linnaeus, 1758 (southern 

 elephant seal). Circumpolar on sub- 

 antarctic islands, south to edges of ice 

 at lat. 78° S. The southern elephant seal 

 breeds along a continental coast only at 

 Argentina. Three races have been pro- 

 posed, one from the South Annerican 

 sector of the range, one from the south- 

 ern Indian Ocean sector, and one from 

 the New Zealand sector (Lydekker, 1909). 

 They may be valid, but further study is 

 required before they can be accepted. 



Mirounga angustirostris Gill, 1866 (north- 

 ern elephant seal). Breeds fronn Afio 

 Nuevo Island, Calif., south to Isla 

 Guadalupe and Islas San Benito, Baja 

 California. Formerly from Point Reyes, 

 Calif., south to Cabo San Lazaro, Baja 

 California. Ranges at sea north to south- 

 eastern Alaska. 



Order SIRENIA 



Family DUGONGIDAE 



Genus DUGONG Lacepede, 1799 



Du g ong dug on P. L. S. Miiller, 1776 

 (dugong). In tropical bays and estuaries 

 of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans 

 from Louren90 Marques, Mozambique, 

 and the Red Sea, east to the Ryukyu 

 Islands (Amami Oshima), Palau, the 

 Solomon Islands, and northern Australia. 

 It does not extend to the Marshall Islands, 

 though Carter, Hill, and Tate (1945, p. 136) 

 listed it from there. Now rare in all its 

 range except along northern Australia 

 (Bertram and Bertram, 1966). 



Genus HYDRODAMALIS Retzius, 1794 



Hydrodamalis gigas Zimmermann, 1780 

 (Steller sea cow; great northern sea 

 cow). Discovered on Bering Island in 

 western Bering Sea in 1741, the Steller 

 sea cow was exterminated by Russian 

 hunters about 1768. In historic time, it 

 lived only on Bering and Copper Islands 

 and its total population probably did not 

 exceed one or two thousand animals. A 

 rib was found on Attu, the westernmost 

 Aleutian Island, in 1842 or 1843, by 

 Ilia G. Wosnesenski. "There is no in- 

 disputable evidence of its ever having 

 inhabited other coasts than those of the 

 Comnnander Islands, as the find of a rib 

 on Attu Island does not necessarily prove 

 that the animal once lived there, though 

 that is not improbable" (Stejneger, 1896, 

 p. 20). A skull fragment about 19,000 

 years old was dredged from the sea floor 

 off Monterey, Calif. (Jones, 1967). Berzin 

 and others (1963) reported that whalers 

 near Cape Navarin, Siberia, saw at a 



