Despite its name, this fur seal does not live in tropical waters but on a handful of remote islands of the Southern Ocean, much further north than its Antarctic relative but just as isolated. It is distinguished from the other otariids by a yellowish cream face and chest that contrast with the rest of the dark body, and by a bristly tuft of hair on the forehead that gives it an almost comical look. Unlike the Antarctic Fur Seal, it does not depend as heavily on krill, which has so far protected it from the same population declines suffered by its more southerly relative.
Dark fur on the back contrasting with the very characteristic yellowish cream face, chest and neck. A tuft of long, bristly hair on the forehead, more pronounced in adult males. It differs from the Antarctic Fur Seal in this sharp two-tone colour pattern, absent in that species.
Like other otariids, it can walk on land on all four flippers, leaving more defined tracks than true seals, with marks of the fore claws. Breeding colonies settle on rocky or pebble beaches of subantarctic islands, with areas of trampled vegetation and a large build-up of droppings in the breeding season.
Subantarctic islands of the Atlantic, Indian and southern Pacific oceans (Gough, Marion, Prince Edward and Amsterdam, among others) and the surrounding oceanic waters.
Mesopelagic fish and squid, caught mostly at night when these prey rise towards the surface. Krill carries less weight in its diet than in that of the Antarctic Fur Seal.
Forms breeding colonies on rocky beaches, with territorial males that defend a group of females during the breeding season. Makes feeding trips that can take it several hundred kilometres from the colony.
The population is considered stable or slightly increasing in most known colonies, recovered since the end of commercial hunting in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Unlike the Antarctic Fur Seal, it does not depend as heavily on krill, which to date has kept it out of the declines linked to warming in the southernmost Antarctic sector.
Occasional bycatch in fishing gear and, in the longer term, possible changes in prey availability from ocean warming.
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