ecological roles. Accounts from Native Americans in the New England/Atlantic Canadian regions reported that the sea mink had a fatter body than the American mink. The sea mink produced a distinctive fishy odor, and had fur that was said to be coarser and redder than that of the American mink. It is thought that naturalist Joseph Banks encountered this animal in 1776 in the Strait of Belle Isle, and he described it as being slightly larger than a fox, having long legs, and a tail that was long and tapered toward the end, similar to a greyhound. The sea mink was the largest of the minks. As only fragmentary skeletal remains of the sea mink exist, most of its external measurements are speculative and rely only on dental measurements. In 1929, Ernest Thompson Seton, a wildlife artist, concluded that the probable dimensions for this animal are from head to tail, with the tail being long. A possible mounted sea mink specimen collected in 1894 in Connecticut measured from head to tail and the tail was in length; a 1966 study found this to be either a large American mink or possibly a hybrid. The specimen was described as having coarse fur that was reddish-tan in color, though much of it was likely faded from age. It was darkest at the tail and the hind limbs, with a white patch between the forearms. There were also white spots on the left forearm and the groin region. The type specimen was collected by Prentiss and Frederick True, a biologist, in 1897 in Brooklin, Maine, the remains of which consist of a maxilla, parts of the nasal bone, and the palate. The teeth are all present on the right side of the palate, and the left side consists of the incisors and one premolar. Other than a chipped canine, all the teeth are in good condition. The specimen is apparently larger than the Alaskan mink (N. v. nesolestes), as the average distance between the last incisor to the first molar is in the Alaskan mink, whereas that distance is in the type specimen. The nasal bone has an abrupter ascension, and the carnassial teeth make a more acute angle with the gums than those of the common mink (N. v. mink). These minks were large and heavily built, with a low sagittal crest and short, wide postorbital processes (projections on the frontal bone