Racial characters.—Size large; skull heavy with extensive crests and ridges; fur long and soft; color pale, more grayish and less reddish than in fasciatus.
Distribution.—From the Cascade Mountains eastward, including the valleys of rivers in the Cascades which drain southward and eastward. Marginal records of occurrences are Oroville (W. W. D.), Lake Keechelus ([Taylor] and [Shaw], 1929: 15) and Trout Lake (W. W. D.).
Zalophus californianus (Lesson)
California sea lion
Otaria californiana Lesson, Dict. Class Nat. Hist., 13:420, 1828.
Zalophus californianus [Allen], Monogr. N. Amer. Pinnipeds, U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv. Terr., Misc. Publ., 12:276, 1880.
Type locality.—California.
Distribution.—Rare or casual along the coast of Washington.
Description.—Adult males are 7 to 8 feet in length and females about 6 feet. Bulls weigh as much as 1,000 pounds, and females up to 600 pounds. Both fore and hind limbs are modified for swimming; they are flippers directed posteriorly. The body is cylindrical and streamlined, the neck thick and the head small. Adult males possess a high sagittal crest resulting in a high forehead. Eyes and ears are small. The reddish brown pelage is short and coarse. Females are darker than the males.
The California sea lion occurs along the Pacific Coast from Mexico to northern California and has been recorded from Oregon ([Bailey], 1936: 332), Washington and British Columbia ([Greenwood], Newcombe, and Fraser, 1918: 1-39). It is of rare or casual occurrence along the coast of Washington.