Caribbean Monk Seal
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The Caribbean monk seal (''Neomonachus tropicalis''), also known as the West Indian seal or sea wolf, is an extinct
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of seal native to the
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. The main natural predators of Caribbean monk seals were large
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...
s, such as great whites and
tiger shark The tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') is a species of ground shark, and the only extant member of the genus '' Galeocerdo'' and family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large apex predator, with females capable of attaining a length of over . Popula ...
s, 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 Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...
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 Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
and off the eastern coast of
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
. 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 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
(NOAA). The Caribbean monk seal is closely related to the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, a species which is restricted to the central
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
surrounding the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
, and the Mediterranean monk seal, a vulnerable species, predominantly found in the waters off of
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
.


Description

Caribbean monk seals had a relatively large, long, robust body, could grow to nearly in length and weighed . Males were probably slightly larger than females, which is similar to Mediterranean monk seals. Like other monk seals, this species had a distinctive head and face. The head was rounded with an extended broad muzzle. The face had relatively large wide-spaced eyes, upward opening nostrils, and fairly big whisker pads with long light-colored and smooth whiskers. When compared to the body, the animal's foreflippers were relatively short with little claws and the hindflippers were slender. Their coloration was brownish and/or grayish, with the underside lighter than the dorsal area. Adults were darker than the more paler and yellowish younger seals. Caribbean monk seals were also known to have algae growing on their pelage, giving them a slightly greenish appearance, which is similar to Hawaiian monk seals.


Behavior and ecology

Historical records show that this species may have "hauled out" at resting areas on land in large social groups, typically 20–40 animals, but sometimes up to 100 individuals, throughout its range. The groups may have been organised based on age and life stage differences. Their diet most likely consisted of fish and crustaceans. Like other
true seals True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * ...
, the Caribbean monk seal was sluggish on land. Its lack of fear of humans, and an unaggressive, curious nature was taken advantage of by human hunters.


Reproduction and longevity

Caribbean monk seals had a long pupping season, which is typical for pinnipeds living in subtropical and tropical habitats. In Mexico, breeding season peaked in early December. Like other monk seals, this species had four retractable nipples for suckling their young. Newborn pups were probably about in length and weighed and reportedly had a sleek, black
lanugo Lanugo is very thin, soft, usually unpigmented hair that is sometimes found on the body of a fetus or newborn. It is the first hair to be produced by the fetal hair follicles, and it usually appears around sixteen weeks of gestation and is abunda ...
coat when born. It is believed this animal's average lifespan was approximately twenty years. The Caribbean monk seal nasal mite (''Halarachne americana''), was entirely dependent on the seal, living inside of its nasal cavity, and went extinct with it.


Habitat

Caribbean monk seals were found in warm temperate, subtropical and tropical waters of the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...
,
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
, and the western Atlantic Ocean. They probably preferred to haul out at low sandy beaches above high tide on isolated and secluded
atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...
s and islands, but occasionally would visit the mainland coasts and deeper waters offshore. This species may have fed in shallow
lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
s and
reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...
s.


Relationship with humans

The first historical mention of the Caribbean monk seal is recorded in the account of the second voyage of
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
. In August 1494, a ship laid anchor off the mostly barren island of Alta Velo, south of
Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...
, where the party of men aboard killed eight seals that were resting on the beach. The second recorded interaction with Caribbean monk seals was Juan Ponce de León's discovery of the
Dry Tortugas Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park of the United States located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, in the United States. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the several Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most iso ...
Islands. On June 21, 1513, when Ponce de León discovered the islands, he ordered a foraging party to go ashore, where the men killed fourteen of the docile seals. There are several more records throughout the colonial period of seals being discovered and hunted at
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...
, the Alacrane Islands,
Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
, Pedro Cays, and
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
. As early as 1688, sugar plantation owners sent out hunting parties to kill hundreds of seals every night in order to obtain oil to lubricate the plantation machinery. A 1707 account describes fisherman slaughtering seals by the hundreds for oil to fuel their lamps. By 1850, so many seals had been killed that there were no longer sufficient numbers for them to be commercially hunted. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, scientific expeditions to the Caribbean encountered the Caribbean monk seal. In December 1886, the first recorded scientific expedition to research seals, led by H. A. Ward and Professor F. Ferrari Perez as part of the Mexican Geographical and Exploring Survey, ventured to a small collection of reefs and a small cay known as the Triangles (20.95° N 92.23° W) in search of monk seals. Although the research expedition was in the area for only four days, forty-two specimens were killed and taken away; the two leaders of the expedition sent the specimens to museums around the Western world. Two specimens from the encounter survive intact at the British Museum of Natural History, and the Cambridge Zoological Museum, respectively. The expedition also captured a newly born seal pup that died in captivity a week later. The first Caribbean monk seal to live in captivity for an extended period was a female seal that lived in the
New York Aquarium The New York Aquarium is the oldest continually operating Public aquarium, aquarium in the United States, located on the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded at Castle Garden in Battery Park, Manhattan, i ...
. The seal was captured in 1897 and died in 1903, living in captivity for a total of five and a half years. In 1909, the New York Aquarium acquired four Caribbean monk seals, three of which were yearlings (between one and two years old) and the other a mature male.


Extinction

Through the first half of the 20th century, Caribbean monk seal sightings became much rarer. In 1908, a small group of seals was seen at the once bustling Tortugas Islands. Fishermen captured six seals in 1915, which were sent to Pensacola, Florida, and eventually released. A seal was killed near Key West, Florida in March 1922. There were sightings of Caribbean monk seals on the Texas coast in 1926 and 1932. The last seal recorded to be killed by humans was killed on the Pedro Cays in 1939. Two more seals were seen on Drunken Mans Cay, just south of Kingston,
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, in November 1949. In 1952 the Caribbean monk seal was confirmed sighted for the last time at Serranilla Bank. The final extinction of the Caribbean monk seal was triggered by two main factors. The most visible factor contributing to the Caribbean monk seals' demise was the nonstop hunting and killing of the seals in the 18th and 19th centuries to obtain the oil held within their blubber. The insatiable demand for seal products in the Caribbean encouraged hunters to slaughter the Caribbean monk seals by the hundreds. The Caribbean monk seals' docile nature and lack of flight instinct in the presence of humans made them very easy to kill. The second factor was the overfishing of the reefs that sustained the Caribbean monk seal population. With no fish or mollusks to feed on, the seals that were not killed by hunters for oil died of starvation. Surprisingly few conservation measures were taken towards attempting to save the Caribbean monk seal; by the time it was placed on the endangered species list in 1967, it was likely already extinct. Unconfirmed sightings of Caribbean monk seals by local fishermen and divers are relatively common in
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
and Jamaica, but two recent scientific expeditions failed to find any sign of the species. It is possible the mammal is still extant, but some biologists strongly believe the sightings are of wandering hooded seals, which have been positively identified on Caribbean archipelagos such as
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
and the
Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...
.


See also

*
Holocene extinction The Holocene extinction, also referred to as the Anthropocene extinction or the sixth mass extinction, is an ongoing extinction event caused exclusively by human activities during the Holocene epoch. This extinction event spans numerous families ...
* Hawaiian monk seal * Mediterranean monk seal * List of extinct animals


References


External links


ADW: ''Monachus tropicalis''


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{{Taxonbar, from=Q600654 Monachines Extinct animals of the Caribbean Extinct carnivorans Carnivorans of Central America Mammals of the Caribbean Mammals of the Dominican Republic Mammals of Haiti Mammals of Cuba Mammals of Puerto Rico Mammals of Jamaica Pinnipeds of North America Pinnipeds of South America Natural history of the Caribbean Mammal extinctions since 1500 Species made extinct by human activities 1952 in the environment 1950s in the Caribbean Extinct animals of the United States Mammals described in 1850 Species that are or were threatened by human consumption Taxa named by John Edward Gray Species that are or were threatened by habitat loss Extinct animals of Cuba Extinct animals of Haiti Extinct animals of Jamaica Extinct animals of the Dominican Republic