Zalophus is a genus of the family Otariidae of the order Carnivora.
Zalophus
A pair of Galápagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) on Isabela Island, Galapagos Islands. Photographed in the early morning.
California Sea lions at Santa Cruz, California
California Sea lions (Zalophus californianus) swimming past fish, Guadalupe Island, Mexico
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