Desmatophoca is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of pinniped

Pinniped

Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

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This poorly known fossil pinniped is a member of the true seal

Earless seal

The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal superfamily, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae . They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae...

-like extinct pinniped family, the Desmatophocidae

Desmatophocidae

Desmatophocidae is an extinct family of Pinnipeds.- Taxonomy :* Desmatophoca* AllodesmusSome sources also list the following genera:* Atopotarus* Megagomphos* Brachyallodesmus...

. Unlike modern true seals, it had a tail, although this was relatively short. It had large eyes, and presumably hunted by sight, and its ears do not appear to have been adapted for hearing underwater.

Desmatophoca oregonensis was one of the first known fossil pinnipeds from the west coast of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, and it is now known by several skulls, jaws, and forelimb elements from the Oregon coast. It had lost the primitive shearing carnassial

Carnassial

Carnassials are large teeth found in many carnivorous mammals, used for shearing flesh and bone in a scissor- or shear-like way. In the Carnivora, the carnassials are the modified last upper premolar and the first molar, but in the prehistoric creodonts, the carnassials were further back in the...

s of older pinnipeds like Enaliarctos

Enaliarctos

Enaliarctos is an extinct genus of pinniped.Prior to the discovery of Puijila, the five species in the genus Enaliarctos represented the oldest known pinniped fossils, having been recovered from late Oligocene and early Miocene strata of California and Oregon.It had a short tail and developed...

, which indicates that it was able to feed and ingest fish underwater without having to return to land.