Pinniped Pinniped Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared seals: sea lions and fur seals), and Phocidae (the earless seals, or true seals). There are 33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage (descended from one ancestral line). Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their
Marine Mammal Stranding Center issues, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center operates a Sea Life Museum, houses an educational facility which includes hands-on exhibits, and offers marine ecology-based educational programs. The Stranding Center also offers internship programs. Marine Mammal Stranding Center The Marine Mammal Stranding Center (established in 1978) is a private non-profit organization located in Brigantine, New Jersey. The Stranding Center's main goal is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release stranded marine mammals and sea turtles. They are the only marine stranding center in New Jersey. Since 1978, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center has rescued more than 3,500 whales, dolphins, seals, and sea turtles. Although