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 observer Marine mammal observer A marine mammal observer (MMO) is a professional in environmental consulting who specializes in whales and dolphins. In recent years there has been increased concern for the effect of man-made noise pollution in the ocean, particularly upon cetaceans - which are known to be sensitive to sound. As a result, environmental regulations have been introduced in an attempt to minimise negative impacts on marine wildlife. These guidelines have focused on the oil industry's seismic exploration for offshore oil. They center on the practice of delaying or shutting down the use of air-guns if a whale or dolphin