Steller sea lion
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A Steller sea lion can turn its hind flippers forward to walk on land.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Steller sea lion
- Scientific name
- Eumetopias jubatus
- Japanese name
- トド
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Otariidae
- Genus
- Eumetopias
Where the name “Steller sea lion” comes from
Its English name honors the naturalist Steller.
NOAA FisheriesA member of the sea lion family that lives in the North Pacific, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, including the coasts of Hokkaido.
Males are much bigger than females and have a thick mane of coarse hair.
It likes to eat fish, squid and octopus, and swallows them whole with almost no chewing.
How the Steller sea lion lives
It mainly searches for food and eats at night. It forages near shore and offshore. It can gather in groups on beaches.
NOAA FisheriesUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- Body length: males 3 mLength: 2.3–3.4 m鳥羽水族館University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Weight
- males 1,000 kg, 350–1,120 kg鳥羽水族館University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Lifespan
- males up to 20 years, females up to 30 yearsUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Fish, squid, octopuses, and other animals鳥羽水族館
- Range
- North Pacific Ocean, Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan, and Bering Sea鳥羽水族館
- Conservation status in Japan
- Near Threatened (NT)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020
Where the Steller 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
- トド
- 简体中文
- 北海狮
- 繁體中文
- 北海獅
- 한국어
- 큰바다사자
- Español
- León marino de Steller
- Français
- Lion de mer de Steller
- Deutsch
- Stellerscher Seelöwe
- Português (Brasil)
- Leão-marinho-de-steller
- Italiano
- Leone marino di Steller
- العربية
- أسد بحر ستيلر
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Singa laut steller
- Tiếng Việt
- Sư tử biển Steller
- Русский
- Сивуч
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 — トドChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Eumetopias jubatusChecked: 2026-11-03
- NOAA Fisheries — Steller Sea LionChecked: 2026-11-05
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020Checked: 2026-11-07
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.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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