Arctocephalus roughly translates to ‘bear-headed’, the specific name 'tropicalis' is from the Greek word tropikos, meaning tropical. This species was first identified from a specimen mistakenly thought to have come from the northern coast of Australia.
What do I eat? Myctophid fish and some squid
Range trip time: When nursing, females forage on 5-12 day trips in summer, in winter these increase to 18-28 days
Extreme dive depth/time: 208 m / 6.5 minutes
Distribution: Breed on islands north of the Antarctic Convergence. Heard Island's location south of this oceanographic front result in very few breeding animals are present on Heard Island. Wandering individuals, mostly young males, have been reported from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Abundance: >300,000
Population numbers are increasing in most colonies, except on subantarctic
Îles Crozet.
The species is a listed threatened (vulnerable) and marine and migratory species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and protected by a number of international agreements (e.g. listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (CCAS) under the Antarctic Treaty).
The species is also covered by the Sub-antarctic Fur Seal and Southern Elephant Seal Recovery Plan and the Action Plan for Australian Seals 1999.
No subantarctic fur seal colonies are present on Heard Island. However females occasionally haul out here to pup.
To find more information on other Heard Island seals click on the links below.
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