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SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC REPORT-FISHERIES Na431 431 A LIST OF THE MARINE MAMMALS OF THE WORLD SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC REPORT-FISHERIES Na431 Marine Biological Laboratoryj WOODS HOLE, MASS. UNITED STATES DEPARTMEraOFJ]HE^^ F^sTMNDnwiLDUFTsERvicr UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Stewart L. Udall, Secretary FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, Clarence F. Pautzke, Commissioner Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Donald L. McKeman, Director A LIST OF THE MARINE MAMMALS OF THE WORLD by Victor B, Scheffer and Dale W, Rice United States Fish and Wildlife Service Special Scientific Report - Fisheries No. 431 Washington, D. C. 1963 A LIST OF THE MARINE MAMMALS OF THE WORLD by Victor B. Scheffer and Dale W. Rice Wildlife Biologists (Research) Bureau of Commercial Fisheries U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Seattle, Washington INTRODUCTION 1937, a whale which proved to represent a remark- able new genus (Tasmacetus) of beaked whale Listed below are the living marine mammals of washed ashore on New Zealand. In 1958, in the the world: the sea otter, pinnipeds, sirenians, and collections of the U.S. National Museum and the cetaceans. Certain animals descended from marine British Museum, there was apparently only one ancestors but now living in inland waters are in- skull— a broken one—of the ribbon seal (Ilistrio- cluded. (The Caspian and Baikal seals may have phoca fasciata), yet the population of this animal been confined to inland waters since the origin of in Bering and Okhotsk Seas must surely be num- the Phocidae from their presumed terrestrial an- bered iatens of thousands. cestors (McLaren, I960).) A bibliography of of marine mammals, especi- sources is given on page 9. Thus, any list the ally of the smaller cetaceans, can only be re- Any attempt to classify the marine mammals is garded as extremely provisional. Classification in beset with special difficulties arising from the the following list is canied to the subspecific fact that they are poorly known. Some of them level for pinnipeds and sirenians. Cetacean?, in live on the high seas, others on remote oceanic general, are too poorly known for subspecies to be islands and among polar ice fields. Some of the defined, but we have listed those proposed races sirenians and smaller cetaceans live in tropical which appear to be valid. The sea otter is mono- waters seldom visited by naturalists. The carcas- typic. Some, but not all, synonyms in current use ses of marine mammals are large-bodied, greasy, are shown. The arrangement of the pinnipeds fol- and bloody, and often putrify before they are lows Scheffer (1958); the arrangement of cetaceans brought to the attention of biologists. In general, follows Rice (In Anderson and Jones, MS). they are difficult and expensive to collect and to preserve for study. As a result, many kinds are Thedistributionof each species is shown briefly. known to science only from bones and fragments. [Note: Hershkovitz, 1961, has shown that the following priority over those used in this list: For example, in 1952, Yamada collected a names take strange 8-foot porpoise at Taiji, Japan. Upon dis- Susu Lesson, 1828, for Platanista Wagler, 1830 section, it proved to be Feresa attenuata, known up to then from two skulls which had lain for a century in the British Museum. Only 6 years ago, Tursiops nesamack Lac^p^de, 1804, for T. truncatus a new genus of dolphin (Lagenodelphis) was de- Montagu, 1821 scribed by Fraser (1956) on the basis of a skele- ton recovered from a sea beach at Borneo; and in Nodus Wagler, 1830, for Mesoplodon Gervais, 1850 According to the most recent edition of the International Genus Neophoca Gray, 1866 (Tasman sea Code (International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, lions) 1961), these names are nomina oblita and cannot replace Neophoca cinerea Peron, 1916 (Australian names which have been in universal use for over 50 sea lion; white-capped sea lion). Coastal years. J waters of South Australia. Neophoca hookeri Gray, 1844 (New Zealand sea lion), Subantarctic islands south of SEA OTTER New Zealand; breeds only on Auckland Islands. Order Camivora (carnivores) Subfamily Arctocephalinae (fur seals) Superfamily Canoidea (dogs, raccoons, bears, Genus Arctocephalus E. Geoffroy Saint- weasels, and others) Hilaire and F. Cuvier, 1826 (southern fur Family Mustelidae (weasels and others) seals) Subfamily Lutrinae (otters) Arctocephalus australis Zimmermann, 1783 Genus Enhydra Fleming, 1822 (South American fur seal). Members of one Enhydra lutris Linnaeus, 1758 (sea otter). race (A. a. australis) breed among the Shallow waters of the North Pacific Ocean Falkland Islands; a second tace (A. a. gra- and Bering Sea. Main breeding groups are cilis Nehring, 1887) along the coast from along the shores of California, western Brazil and Peru to Strait of Magellan; and Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Commander a third race (A. a. galapagoensis Heller, Islands, and Kurile Islands. 1904) among the Galapagos Islands. Arctocephalus doriferus Wood Jones, 1925 PINNIPEDS (Australian fur seal). There are two breed- ing groups; one along coast of southern Order Pinnipedia (pinnipeds; seals, sea lions, and Australia and Tasmania, and one along walrus) southwestern Australia. Superfamily Otarioidea (walking seals) Arctocephalus forsteri Lesson, 1828 (New Family Otariidae (otariids; "eared" seals) Zealand fur seal). Southern New Zealand Subfamily Otariinae (sea lions) and nearby subantarctic islands. Genus Otaria Peron, 1816 Arctocephalus philippii Peters, 1866 (Phil- Otaria byronia Blainville, 1820 (- 0. [laves ippi fur seal; Guadalupe fur seal). One cens Shaw, 1800) (South American set race (A. p. philippii), perhaps now extinct, lion). Coastal waters from Brazil and Peru is known from Islas Juan Fernandez, west southward to Strait of Magellan and Falk- of Peru; and another race (A. p. townsen li land Islands. Merriam, 1897) now known only from Isla Genus Eumetopias Gill, 1866 de Guadalupe, formerly occurred from Eumetopias jubata Schreber, 1776 (Steller Farallon Islands, California, south lo sea lion; northern sea lion). Breeding pop- Socorro Island, Mexico. ulations from northeastern Bering Sea, Arctocephalus pusillus Schreber, 1776 Aleutian Islands, and west coast of North (South African fur seal). Temperate coastal America, southward to southern California, waters of southern and southwestern Africa. westward to Commander Islands, Kam- Arctocephalus tropicalis Gray, 1872 (Ker- chatka, and Japan. guelen fur seal). Subantarctic islands of Genus Zalophus Gill, 1866 Atlantic Ocean and Indian Qcean. Members Zalophus califomianus Lesson, 1828 (Cali- of one tace (A. t. tropicalis) breed north of fornia sea lion; black sea lion). The the antarctic convergence and members of breeding population of one race (Z- c. cal- another {A. t. gazella Peters, 1875) south ifomianus) extends from central California of it. to Baja California. A second race (Z. c. jor Genus Callorhinus Linnaeus, 1758 ponicus Peters, 1866) is known from the Callorhinus ursinus Linnaeus, 1758 (north- fur seal). of groups breed Sea of Japan; and a third race (Z. c. uol- ern Members two lebaeki Sivertsen, 1953) from the Galap- in Bering Sea on the Pribilof and Com- agos Islands. mander Islands; while members of two others breed in Sea of Okhotsk on Robben and New Jersey. The Baltic, East Atlantic, Island and the northern Kuriles. The four and West Atlantic populations differ greatly groups are anatomically indistinguishable. in their breeding biology, but are not re- Family Odobenidae garded as subspecifically distinct. Genus Odobenus Brisson, 1762 Genus Histriophoca Gill, 1873 Odobenus rosmarus Linnaeus, 1758 (wal- Histriophoca fasciata Zimmermann, 1783 rus). Shallow waters near ice in the Arc- (ribbon seal). North Pacific Ocean, in and tic Ocean and adjacent seas. A North At- along edges of sea ice from western Alaska lantic race^O. r. msmarusJ and a North Pa- to Kamchatka, Okhotsk Sea, and northern cific race (0. r. divergens lUiger, 1815) Japan. have been described. Genus Pagophilus Gray, 1844 Superfamily Phocoidea (crawling seals; "ear- Pagophilus groenlandicus Erxleben, 1777 less" seals) (harp seal). North Atlantic Ocean, in and Family Phocidae along edges of sea ice from northern shores Subfamily Phocinae of Europe, including White Sea, to eastern Tribe Phocini Canada. White Sea, Jan Mayen, and New- Genus Phoca Linnaeus, 1758 foundland breeding stocks are perhaps Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 (harbor distinct. seal). Shores of North America and Eurasia Tribe Erignathini from about 30° N to the edge of arctic ice. Genus Erignathus Gill, 1866 Five races are tentatively recognized, one Erignathus barbatus Erxleben, 1777 (bearded each from the eastern Atlantic (P. v. vitu- seal). Circumboreal at edges of ice; along lina); western Atlantic (P. v. concolor all coasts and islands of northern Eurasia De Kay, 1842); eastern Pacific (P. v. rich- and northern North America. North Atlantic ardi Gray, 1864); western Pacific (P. v. and North Pacific races have been described largha Pallas, 1811); and Seal Lakes com- (£. b. barbatus and £'. b. nauticus Pallas, plex of Ungava Peninsula (P. v. mellonae 1811). Doutt, 1942). Genus Pusa Scopoli, 1777 Subfamily Monachinae Pusa hispida Schreber, 1775 (ringed seal). Tribe Monachini (monk seals) Near ice throughout the Arctic Ocean and Genus Monachus Fleming, 1822 adjacent seas, and in two lakes. Six races Monachus monachus Hermann, 1779 (Mediter- are tentatively recognized, one each from ranean monk seal). Monk seals are thinly the Arctic Ocean (P. h. hispida); Okhotsk scattered along the Anatolian coast of the Black Sea Adriatic Sea; coast Sea{P.h. ochotensis Pallas, 1811); Bering and and is Sea (P. h. krascheninikovi Naumov and lands of Mediterranean Sea, southward to Smimov, 1936); Baltic Sea (P. h. botnica Spanish West Africa and Canary Islands. Gmelin, 1788); Lake Ladoga (P. h. lado- Monachus tropicalis Gray, 1850 (Caribbean gensis Nordquist, 1899); and Lake Saimaa monk seal). The former range included and adjacent lakes (P. h. saimensis Nord- shores and islands of the Caribbean Sea quist, 1899). and Gulf of Mexico. This seal is perhaps Pusa sibirica Gmelin, 1788 (Baikal seal). now extinct. Only in Lake Baikal, U.S.S.R., a fresh- Monachus schauinslandi Matschie, 1905 (Ha- water body which freezes in winter.
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