The Sea Lions or Eared Seals, along with Earless Seals or True Seals are all considered to belong to same suborder "
Pinnipedia". This was generally accepted after many tests, and studies were conducted on all of these species. This has confused the issue of what species belong in what order and how many are left in those orders and families. According to the records I verified, the Sea Lion, Eared Seals are now listed under the suborder of "
Pinnipedia" within the family of "
Otariidae". There are 17 species listed in this family with two subspecies, and one species recently listed extinct about the 1950s. The following is a list of all the species included in this family, and the majority are
Genus Arctocephalus :
- Antarctic Fur Seal, A. gazella
- Guadalupe Fur Seal, A. townsendi
- Juan Fernandez Fur Seal, A. philippii
- Galapagos Fur Seal, A. galapagoensis
- Brown Fur Seal, A. pusillus
- *South African Fur Seal, A. pusillus pusillus
- *Australian Fur Seal, A. pusillus doriferus
- New Zealand Fur Seal, A. forsteri
- Subantarctic Fur Seal, A. tropicalis
- South American Fur Seal, A. australis
- Northern Fur Seal, C. ursinus
- Steller Sea Lion, E. jubatus
- Australian Sea Lion, N. cinerea
- South American Sea Lion, O. flavescens
- New Zealand Sea Lion, P. hookeri
- California Sea Lion, Z. californianus
- Galapagos Sea Lion, Z. wollebaeki
- Japanese Sea Lion, Z. japonicus - (extinct sometime 1950s)
The Earless or True Seals are listed in same suborder "Pinnipedia", but the family is "Phocidae", and has 18 species with one considered to be extinct around 1950 also. The following is a list of those species included in that family;
- Hawaiian Monk Seal, Monachus schauinslandi
- Mediterranean Monk Seal, Monachus monachus
- Northern Elephant Seal, Mirounga angustirostris
- Southern Elephant Seal, Mirounga leonina
- Ross Seal, Ommatophoca rossi
- Crabeater Seal, Lobodon carcinophagus
- Leopard Seal, Hydrurga leptonyx
- Weddell Seal, Leptonychotes weddellii
- Bearded Seal, Erignathus barbatus
- Hooded Seal, Cystophora cristata
- Common Seal, Phoca vitulina
- Spotted Seal, Phoca largha
- Ringed Seal, Pusa hispida (formerly Phoca hispida)
- Baikal Seal, Pusa sibirica (formerly Phoca sibirica)
- Caspian Seal, Pusa caspica (formerly Phoca caspica)
- Harp Seal, Pagophilus groenlandica (formerly Phoca groenlandicus)
- Ribbon Seal, Histriophoca fasciata (formerly Phoca fasciata)
- Gray Seal, Halichoerus grypus
- Caribbean Monk Seal, Monachus tropicalis - (extinct sometime 1950s)
For more details, please see sites listed below.