Indian monk seal

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Indian monk seal Classification Cryptopinniped Proposed scientific names Other names Sea reported Indian Ocean First reported 1788 Prominent investigators • Ivan T. Sanderson • Judith E. King

The Indian monk seal was a cryptid pinniped reported from the Indian Ocean, particularly in the vicinity of the Chagos Archipelago. A number of 18^th and 19^th Century surveyors reported seeing seals sleeping on the beaches of the Seychelles and the Amirantes, as late as the 1820s, and seals were also alleged to exist on Coëtivy Island, where they were considered common enough to be exploited as a possible source of oil. Lieutenant Archibald Blair (1752 – 1815), who surveyed the Chagos Archipelago in 1786 and 1786, recorded the capture of two large "seals" in the nearby Salomon Islands, which he believed accounted for the low density of fish in local waters.

Elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are known to wander as far north as Rodrigues and Mauritius. Judith E. King suggests that elephant seals may have once existed even further north, and in greater numbers, perhaps moving seasonally.