it Lutreola vison antiquus. A study conducted in 2000 by Mead et al. refuted Loomis by claiming that the size range for the largest sea mink specimen was beyond that of the American mink, thereby making it a separate species. But a 2001 study by Graham concluded that this size difference was insufficient evidence to classify the sea mink as its own species and that it should be considered a subspecies. Graham supposed that the size difference was caused by environmental factors. Furthermore, Graham reported that Mead assumed the smaller mink specimens to be the American mink, and the larger mink specimens outside the range of the American mink to be sea minks; this may have been a case of sexual dimorphism wherein all specimens were sea minks, the larger ones being males and the smaller ones being females. A 2007 study compared the dental makeup of the sea mink to the American mink, and concluded that they were distinct enough to be considered two separate species. The taxonomy of the minks was revised in 2000, resulting in the formation of a new genus, Neovison, which includes only the sea mink and the American mink. Formerly, both minks were classified in the genus Mustela. The species name macrodon translates to "large teeth". According to Richard Manville, a naturalist who maintains that the sea mink is not a separate species, its closest relative is the common mink (N. v. mink), which also inhabits the New England area. A 2021 study into New World weasels found that the sea mink, along with 4 other extant species, should be classified into a new genus, Neogale. Fur traders who hunted it gave the sea mink various names, including water marten, red otter, and fisher cat. Possibly the first description of this species was made by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in the late 1500s as "a fish like a greyhound", which was a reference to its affinity for the sea and its body shape and gait, which were apparently similar to that of a greyhound. It is possible that the fisher (Pekania pennanti) got its name from being mistakenly identified as the sea mink, which was also known as the fisher by fur traders. The Abenaki Indians referred to it as the "mousebeysoo", which means "wet thing". It was named "sea mink" because it was always found near the coast by fur traders, and subsequently the