The Steller's sea eagle is monotypic, although a dubious subspecies has been named; "H. p. niger". The latter name was given to the population which lacked white feathers except for the tail and may have resided all year in Korea. Last seen in 1968 and long believed to be extinct, a female matching "H. p. niger" in appearance was hatched in captivity in Tierpark Berlin (Germany) in 2001. Both its parents had typical coloration, indicating that "H. p. niger" is an extremely rare dark morph rather than a valid subspecies, as had been suggested earlier. One of the offspring of the dark Berlin female, a male hatched in 2014 that now lives in Skandinavisk Dyrepark (Denmark), also is a dark morph.