Records of vagrant phocid seals (family Phocidae) and fur seals (family Otariidae) in South Australia (1913-2012)

Brief description

Two fur seal species breed on the southern coast of Australia: the Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) and the New Zealand fur seal (A. forsteri). Two other species are vagrants: the subantarctic fur seal (A. tropicalis) and the Antarctic fur seal (A. gazella). We document records of vagrant fur seals in South Australia from 1982 to 2012. Five species of phocid seal of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica come ashore occasionally on the southern Australian coast but do not breed there. This dataset is of records (specimens and sightings) of visits to South Australia (SA) by southern phocids from 1883 until August 2011.