California sea lion
Zalophus californianus
Australian Sea Lion
Neophoca cinerea
About
The Australian sea lion is the only seal or sea lion found nowhere else but Australia. It grows to about 250 cm long and up to 300 kg. It lives in small, scattered colonies along the southern coast.
Also known as: australian sealion
- Length
- 2.5 m
- Weight
- max 300 kg
- Depth
- 10–100 m
Appearance
Females are silver or fawn in colour with a cream belly. Males are much bigger, dark brown, and carry a shaggy yellow mane around the neck and shoulders.
Habitat
This species lives along the southern Australian coast, from Western Australia to South Australia. It mostly breeds on offshore islands rather than the mainland. It dives to feed on the seabed, usually between about 10 and 100 m deep, though it can go much deeper.
Behaviour
Mothers and pups spend long stretches apart while the mother hunts for food out at sea. So pairs use calls and smell to find and know each other again in a crowded colony.
Diet
It hunts along the seabed and eats a wide mix of prey. This includes fish such as wrasse and whiting, squid, cuttlefish, octopus, small sharks and rays, rock lobster, and other crustaceans, the group of shelled sea creatures that includes crabs.
Conservation
The Australian sea lion's population has been shrinking for years. It is now one of the rarer pinnipeds, the seal and sea lion family, in Australian waters. Threats include illegal shootings and a naturally slow, uneven breeding cycle. This makes it hard for numbers to recover.
Did you know?
Unlike most seals and sea lions, which breed on a strict yearly cycle, the Australian sea lion has an unusually irregular breeding pattern that can run well beyond a year between pupping seasons.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
