Kingdom Metazoa
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Subclass Theria
Order Carnivora
- Eumetopias
Diet:
- Fish
Habitat:
- Marine
Material:
- Partial Skull & Skeleton
The marine carnivores (suborder Pinnipedia) include the phocids (seals), odobenids (walruses), and the Otariids (the Fur Seals & Sealions). In making the transition from land to sea, the Otariidae never quite achieved the specialization that characterize the ichthyosaurs, elasmosaurs, or mosasaurs. Consequently, they have had to rely on their limbs, in combination with body movements, for propulsion through the water. Consequently, their limbs have been modified into webbed paddles, with the forelimbs used for steering and stability, and the hindlimbs used for propulsion or for movement on land. The teeth are also greatly modified into the form of sharp cones, which are very efficient for grasping and holding onto their slippery prey. Eumetopias, the modern genus of sealions, is also known from early Pleistocene deposits of Japan, but, locally, it is only known from a very late Pleistocene (~13,000 year old) marine clay deposit from Courtenay.
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