CARIBBEAN MONK SEAL


The Caribbean Monk Seal was first discovered by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1494 near Hispaniola where he had his men kill 8 of them.  He referred to them in his journals as "sea wolves".
Picture of monks

The Caribbean Monk Seals got their names from a fold of fatty skin around their necks which reminded fishermen of the religious monks back in Europe. 

 They were one of the few seal types to live in tropical waters. The Caribbean Monk Seals grew to 8 feet and were reported to have weighed between 400 - 600 pounds.  They had short, clawed front flippers and rather long whiskers. They were darker brown or gray on their backs and slightly lighter in color on their stomach. They sometimes had a greenish color because of the algae that grew in their fur.

The Caribbean Monk Seal was one of three monk seal species.  The Hawaiian monk seals (600 or so left today) and Mediterranean monk seals (about 1,100) are both critically endangered today.  

Caribbean Monk Seals were hunted for their blubber which was a source of oil.  Colonists to the area used this oil to light their lamps and to lubricate machinery.  It was reported by sugar plantation owners in 1688 that hundreds of monk seals were killed every day to keep their machines running smoothly.  The Caribbean Monk Seals had no fear of people and were easily killed.

 The second factor that decreased its numbers was the fact that fishermen in the Caribbean were diminishing the food supply of fish and mollusks.  Monk seals had to search harder to find the foods it needed to survive.  Fishermen in the area also saw the Caribbean Monk Seals as a threat to their livelihood, so they killed the seals before the seals could eat more fish.  This is an issue today with many other species of pinnipeds. 

The last reported sighting of a Caribbean Monk Seal was in 1952 in Serranilla Bank between Jamaica and Nicaragua. Interestingly they were not put on the endangered species list until 1967 and weren't officially declared extinct until 2008 when an expedition to find any remaining Caribbean Monk Seals turned up empty.

Additional Resources:
https://www.oceansoffun.org/pinniped_species/16

http://www.monachus-guardian.org/factfiles/carib01.htm

http://www.savemonkseals.ucsc.edu/fast-facts-about-monk-seals   (resource about saving Hawaiian monk seals from extinction)
Map of Caribbean Sea where monk seals once lived
A picture of Caribbean Monk Seal at New York Aquarium in 1910



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