An eared seal, otariid, or otary is any member of the marine mammal family Otariidae, one of three groupings of pinnipeds. They comprise 15 extant species in seven genera and are commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the walrus (odobenids). Otariids are adapted to a semiaquatic lifestyle, feeding and migrating in the water, but breeding and resting on land or ice. They reside in subpolar, temperate, and equatorial waters throughout the Pacific and Southern Oceans, the southern Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. They are conspicuously absent in the north Atlantic.
Eared seal
Ear flaps of a South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens)
California sea lions
Eared seal off the Namibian coast
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine (saltwater) ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine environments for feeding and survival.
A humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
A leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)
A polar bear (Ursus maritimus), a member of family Ursidae
A sea otter (Enhydra lutris), a member of family Mustelidae