California sea lion
Amazing fact
California sea lions sense fish movements with their whiskers and can find prey even in total darkness.
Smithsonian National Zoo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
California sea lions sense fish movements with their whiskers and can find prey even in total darkness.
THE REAL WORLD
The real California sea lion
- Scientific name
- Zalophus californianus
- Japanese name
- カリフォルニアアシカ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Otariidae
- Genus
- Zalophus
Where the name “California sea lion” comes from
The name “sea lion” comes from a mane, but California sea lions have no mane.
Smithsonian National ZooA sea lion of the west coast of North America. Adult males have a forehead that bulges up like a bump.
It swims by pushing through the water with its long front flippers and steers with its back flippers like a rudder.
It eats squid, sardines, mackerel and other fish. It sometimes rests floating still at the surface with its flippers held up out of the water.
How the California sea lion lives
A mother nurses her pup on shore. She leaves her pup on shore while she goes to sea to find food. On returning, she finds her pup by its call and checks its scent. In normal years, males migrate in winter to feeding areas off California and elsewhere.
NOAA FisheriesBasic data
- Range
- West coast of North America
Where the California sea lion has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- カリフォルニアアシカ
- 简体中文
- 加州海狮
- 繁體中文
- 加州海獅
- 한국어
- 캘리포니아바다사자
- Español
- Lobo marino de California
- Français
- Otarie de Californie
- Deutsch
- Kalifornischer Seelöwe
- Português (Brasil)
- Leão-marinho-da-Califórnia
- Italiano
- Otaria della California
- العربية
- أسد البحر الكاليفورني
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Singa laut california
- Tiếng Việt
- Sư tử biển California
- Русский
- Калифорнийский морской лев
- Türkçe
- Kaliforniya Denizaslanı
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — カリフォルニアアシカChecked: 2026-11-03
- Smithsonian National Zoo — California sea lionChecked: 2026-11-03
- NOAA Fisheries — California sea lionChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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