Mammals · Carnivora · Otariidae

Steller Sea Lion

Eumetopias jubatus

Near Threatened

It could become endangered in the near future if current threats go unchecked. See full glossary

The Steller sea lion is the largest of the eared seals: an adult male can weigh over a tonne. It breeds in dense colonies on rocky islets in the North Pacific and spends the rest of the year fishing for pollock, salmon, herring and squid. The western population, in Alaska, collapsed by more than 80% between the 1970s and the 1990s for reasons still debated, among them changes in prey abundance caused by industrial fishing and predation by killer whales.

Weight

240 kg – 1.1 t

Size

2.3 m – 3.3 m

Lifespan

25 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Moderate

OceanIslandsCarnivore Nocturnal Colonial Near Threatened Ocean Islands Mammal

4countries 8parks 6dive sites10same family

Fun facts

It is the largest sea lion in the world: males can weigh over a tonne and are three times the size of females.
It was described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1741, on the same Bering Sea expedition on which he documented the sea cow that also bears his name and that was extinct 27 years later.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Rocky coasts, islets and shelf waters of the North Pacific, from California to Japan
Sexual maturity: 4.9 years
Gestation / incubation: 9 months
Litter / clutch size: 1

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/