Species Arctocephalus tropicalis (J.E. Gray, 1872)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Gypsophoca tropicalis Gray, J.E. 1872. On the Sea-Bear of New Zealand (Arctocephalus cinereus) and the North-Australian Sea-Bear (Gypsophoca tropicalis). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1872: 653-662 [653].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH skull (Gray also mentions presence of other specimens in the BMNH, including nose, palate and upper jaw of one individual), north coast of Australia.

  Compiled from secondary source:

   King, J. 1959. The northern and southern populations of Arctocephalus gazella. Mammalia 23(1): 19-40.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Also Gough Island.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Tasmania Province (10), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Great Australian Bight Shelf Transition (32), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Southern Province (8), West Tasmania Transition (9)

Other Regions

Australian Antarctic Territory

Ecological Descriptors

Nomadic, oceanic, pelagic, piscivore, predator, rock reef, territorial.

Extra Ecological Information

Males territorial prior to and throughout breeding season.

 

General References

Bonner, W.N. 1981. Southern fur seals Arctocephalus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, 1826). pp. 161-208 in Ridgway, S.H. & Harrison, R.J. (eds). Handbook of Marine Mammals. Volume 1. The Walrus, Sea Lions, Fur Seals and Sea Otter. London : Academic Press (incorrectly states does not occur in Australia)

Goldsworthy, S.D. & Shaughnessy, P.D. 1989. Subantarctic fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis at Heard Island. Polar Biology 9: 337-339

Goldsworthy, S.D. & Shaughnessy, P.D. 1995. Subantarctic Fur-seal Arctocephalus tropicalis. pp. 683-684 in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia: The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Sydney : Reed New Holland 756 pp.

Lento, G.M., Haddon, M., Chambers, G.K. & Baker, C.S. 1997. Genetic variation in Southern Hemisphere fur seals (Arctocephalus spp.): Investigation of population structure and species identity. Heredity 88: 202-208

Robinson, S., Goldsworthy, S.D., van den Hoff, J. & Hindell, M.A. 2002. The foraging ecology of two sympatric fur seals, Arctocephalus gazella and A. tropicalis at Macquarie Island during the austral summer. Marine and Freshwater Research 53: 1071-1082

Robinson, S., Wynen, L. & Goldsworthy, S. 1999. Predation by a Hooker’s sea-lion (Phocarctos hookeri) on a small population of fur seals (Arctocephalus spp.) at Macquarie Island. Marine Mammal Science 15: 888-893

Shaughnessy, P.D. 1992. New mammals recognised for Australia – Antarctic and Subantarctic fur seals Arctocephalus species. Australian Mammalogy 15: 77-80

Shaughnessy, P.D.., Shaughnessy, G.L. & Fletcher, L. 1988. Recovery of the fur seal population of Macquarie Island. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 122: 177-187

 

Common Name References

ABRS 2001. Census of Australian Vertebrates. Australian Biological Resources Study (Subantarctic Fur-seal)