Caribbean monk seal

Open encyclopedia reference

The Caribbean monk seal (Neomonachus tropicalis), also known as the West Indian seal or sea wolf, is an extinct species of seal native to the Caribbean. The main natural predators of Caribbean monk seals were American crocodiles, large sharks, such as great whites and tiger sharks, and possibly transient orcas (though killer whales are not often sighted in the Caribbean); however, humans would become their most lethal enemy. Overhunting of the monk seals for oil and meat, as well as overfishing of their natural prey, are the likely reasons for the seals' extinction. The last confirmed sighting of a Caribbean monk seal was in 1952, at Serranilla Bank, in the waters west of Jamaica and off the eastern coast of Nicaragua. In 2008, the species was officially declared extinct by the United States, after an exhaustive five-year search. This analysis was conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Wikipedia contributors, Caribbean monk seal; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:16:22.857975+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Neomonachus tropicalis (Gray, 1850)

Name authority

(Gray, 1850)

Common name

Caribbean monk seal

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Carnivora

Family

Phocidae

Genus

Neomonachus

Extinction status

Recorded extinct

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderCarnivora Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderCaniformia Kretzoi, 1938
13. familyPhocidae Gray, 1821
14. genusNeomonachus Slater & Helgen in Scheel, Slater, Kolokotronis, Potter, Rotstein, Tsangaras et al., 2014
15. speciesNeomonachus tropicalis (Gray, 1850)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Neomonachus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 17 records assigned to Phocidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1133134 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:46N49. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.