Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

California Sea Lion

Zalophus californianus

Description:

"California sea lion males grow to 360 kg (850 lbs) and 2.4 meters (8 ft) long, while females are significantly smaller, at 100 kg (220 lbs) and 2 m (6.5 ft) long. They have pointed muzzles, making them rather dog-like. Males grow a large crest of bone on the top of their heads as they reach sexual maturity, and this gives the animal its generic name (loph is "forehead" and za- is an emphatic; Zalophus californianus means "Californian big-head"). They also have manes, although they are not as well developed as the manes of adult male South American or Steller sea lions. Females are lighter in color than the males, and pups are born dark, but lighten when they are several months old. When it is dry, the skin is a purple color. " - Wikipedia

Habitat:

Sandstone on coast in La Jolla. They were accompanied by Brown Pelicans and Cormorants. "The California sea lion is found mainly around the waters of California. However, they can also be found from the Alaska Panhandle in the north to Mexico in the south. " - Wikipedia

Notes:

"California sea lions feed on a wide variety of seafood, mainly squid and fish, and sometimes even clams. Commonly eaten fish and squid species include salmon, hake, Pacific whiting, anchovies, herring, schooling fish, rock fish, lampreys, dog fish, and market squid." - Wikipedia

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

2 Comments

CindyBinghamKeiser
CindyBinghamKeiser 11 years ago

Hi Maria, thank you :)

Maria dB
Maria dB 11 years ago

nice series

San Diego, California, USA

Spotted on May 4, 2012
Submitted on May 6, 2012

Related Spottings

California Sea Lion California sea lion California Sea Lions Lobo marino

Nearby Spottings

Opaleye Blue-banded Hermit Crab Wavy Turban Snail Surf Grass
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team