NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Northern Fur Seal
Callorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) is an eared seal found along the north Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk. It is the largest member of the fur seal subfamily (Arctocephalinae) and the only living species in the genus Callorhinus. A single fossil species, Callorhinus gilmorei, is known from the mid-late Pliocene of California, Mexico, and Japan.
Wikipedia contributors, Northern fur seal; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:08:42.560120+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Callorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Northern Fur Seal
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Otariidae
- Genus
- Callorhinus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderCarnivora Bowdich, 1821
- suborderCaniformia Kretzoi, 1938
- familyOtariidae Gray, 1825
- genusCallorhinus J. E. Gray, 1859
- speciesCallorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Phoca nigra Pallas, 1811 Pallas, 1811 | synonym |
| Siren cynocephala Walbaum, 1792 Walbaum, 1792 | synonym |
| Arctocephalus californianus Gray, 1866 Gray, 1866 | synonym |
| Callorhinus alascanus Jordan & Clark, 1898 Jordan & Clark, 1898 | synonym |
| Otaria krachenninikowii Lesson, 1828 Lesson, 1828 | synonym |
| Phoca minima Tilesius, 1835 Tilesius, 1835 | synonym |
| Phoca ursina Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Callorhinus curilensis Jordan & Clark, 1899 Jordan & Clark, 1899 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Indo-West Pacific
North America
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180627 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:PVZG. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.