Description
The Mediterranean monk seal was first described by Aristotle in the third century B.C.

The colouration of the upper side of the body is uniform brown and the lower underside is a spotted yellowish-white. 

The name is derived from the fact that the total body colouration looks like a monk's clothing. The forelimbs have well developed flat claws with only vestigial claws on the elongated toes of the hind limbs.

Bulls measure 2.4m to 2.6m and cows 2.4 m to 2.8m . Adult weight is 250-300 kg (maximum 400 kg).

Breeding
Monk seals reproduce slowly, sometimes only every other year, starting at the age of four.

Mating occurs underwater and births occur from May to November, with peak births between September and October, after an 11 month pregnancy. Pups at birth are 84 cm long and weigh 20 kilograms.

Adult females, larger than the males, come ashore to give birth to one pup, then remain on the beach nursing and protecting the pup for up to six weeks. Living o ff stored fat, the female does not leave the pup even to feed herself during this period. The pup may stay with its mother for as long as three years after weaning.

Distribution
Monk seals formerly were spread throughout the Mediterranean Sea, north west coast of Africa and the Black Sea. They now can be found in the numerous small inlets and sea caves of countries around the Mediterranean Sea, on islands in the Adriatic Sea and Aegean Sea, on Madeira (Desertas Islands), the Atlantic coast of Morocco, and Mauritania. The most important populations are located in Mauritania/Western Sahara, Greece and Turkey. There have been no sightings in the Black Sea in recent years.

Diet
Monk seals typically seek food in water less than 30 metres deep, although an individual was reported to dive up to 75 metres deep. They eat spiny lobsters, eels, octopus, and some reef fishes.

Population Status
As recently as the 16th century, there were enough Mediterranean monk seals to sustain commercial harvesting. The total population is now estimated at several hundred, and is declining.

Conservation Status
The Mediterranean monk seal is classified as critically endangered. Co-ordinated conservation efforts have been difficult because many countries occupy the shores of the Mediterranean. Efforts to save the species emphasise research (tagging and monitoring wild seals) as well as the creation of protected areas. There is disagreement among biologists about whether captive breeding can help the monk seal. These unusual seals have never survived well in captivity, let alone been bred successfully. Some biologists believe, however, that the only way to save them is through captive breeding.

Threats
The Mediterranean monk seal was slaughtered in droves for food by early seafaring explorers and native peoples alike. Although it is legally protected, fishermen, who consider it a pest that competes for fish stocks and damages nets, regularly kill it. Other threats include incidental catch and entanglement in fishing gear and reduction in food availability owing to over fishing. More locally, populations are prone to disturbance, from motorised vessels, the widespread use of SCUBA gear and a growing intensity in fishing activity. These disturbances are especially detrimental during the pupping season. Human disturbance has forced the Monk seals to retreat from sandy and rocky beaches to caves, the entrances to many of which are underwater. These caves afford protection from disturbance, but result in potentially higher mortal ity due to stormy weather, accumulated pollution in the caves and collapsing cave roofs.

In May-July 1997 there was a mass mortality of Mediterranean monk seals at the colony on the Cap Blanc Peninsula, Mauritania/Western Sahara, claiming the lives of over 70% of the population, and reducing numbers at the colony from an estimated 310 to less than 90. There have been conflicting opinions as to whether the cause of the mortality was a toxic "red tide" or a newly-found virus (morbilli virus) that was detected in some of the dead seals. This mass mortality could have a profound effect on the species' survival since the Cap Blanc colony was the largest population of Mediterranean monk seals and the only one to possess the actual social and numerical structure of a colony. The mass mortality prompted an international response that included the rehabilitation of four seal pups.

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