pinniped

That section once held a restaurant, a public restroom building, and several sea lion viewing holes — openings in the decking used to watch the pinnipeds lolling on the crossbeams below.

As we burn fossil fuels, trapping heat that melts polar ice, the roly poly pinnipeds struggle to find sea ice to live upon.

Later that year, the pinnipeds, especially younger, smaller ones, struggled.

A huge school of anchovies — a favored food of the pinnipeds — brought them there, Chandor said.

It’s possible the creatures were giant squids, or pinnipeds, like seals or sea lions.