Mystery Monday revealed! The answer is:
📷 Team Marc W.
This mystery monster uses its huge eyes to peer into the inky darkness looking for food down to more than 5000’. The northern elephant seal migrates from Isla San Benito in Baja to feeding areas off Oregon, Washington, and Canada. Males, like this youngster, ply the Pacific Ocean waters as far west as the dateline. They also make the this migration twice a year: once for mating and giving birth to their pups and once for molting their fur. They deserve our utmost respect. –Paul Jones
Northern elephant seals are extraordinary travelers and divers. They make two migrations a year, traveling thousands of miles on each trip, between their breeding colony and their feeding areas far to the north and west in waters from Oregon to the Gulf of Alaska and as far across the Pacific as the longitude of Hawaii. While at sea they routinely dive for 23 minutes dive after dive, day after day with almost no breaks, can reach depths of over 6,000′ in search of food, and when pressed can hold their breath for up to 2 hours! While they can look slow and are often inactive when ashore, they are some of the most remarkable travelers and divers in the marine mammal world. West San Benito island. –Marc Webber
