Vagrant Antarctic fur seals at the Tristan da Cunha Islands

Abstract

Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella mainly breed at islands south of the Antarctic Polar Front, but stragglers occasionally occur farther north, with records from Gough Island (40 S, 10 W) in the central South Atlantic Ocean in October/November 2005 and September/ October 2009. We report the first record from Tristan da Cunha (37 S, 12 W) in September 2013, and another individual that was observed at Gough Island. Both individuals were lean, lethargic subadult males that were present before the onset of the breeding (pupping) season of the resident populations of subantarctic fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis.