nostrils that face forward. It has a relatively small, flat head with large, black eyes, eight pairs of teeth, and a short snout with the nostrils on top of the snout and vibrissae on each side. The nostrils are small, vertical slits, which close when the seal dives under water. Additionally, their slender, torpedo-shaped body and hind flippers allow them to be very agile swimmers. Adult males are in weight and in length, while adult females tend to be, typically, slightly larger, at and in length. When monk seal pups are born, they weigh and are in length. As they nurse for about 6 weeks, they grow considerably, eventually weighing between by the time they are weaned, while the mother loses up to . Caribbean monk seals had a relatively large, long, robust body, and could grow to nearly in length and weighed . Males were probably slightly larger than females, which is similar to Mediterranean monk seals. Like other monk seals, this species had a distinctive head and face. The head was rounded with an extended, broad muzzle. The face had relatively large, wide-spaced eyes, upward-opening nostrils, and fairly big whisker pads with long, light-colored, and smooth whiskers. When compared to the body, the animal's foreflippers were relatively short with little claws and the hindflippers were slender. Their coloration was brownish and/or grayish, with the underside lighter than the dorsal area. Adults were darker than the paler and more yellowish younger seals. Caribbean monk seals were also known to have algae growing on their pelages, giving them a slightly greenish appearance, which is similar to Hawaiian monk seals. Behavior Diet and predation Hawaiian monk seals mainly prey on reef-dwelling bony fish, but they also prey on cephalopods and crustaceans. Juveniles and subadults prey more on smaller octopus species, such as Octopus leteus and O. hawaiiensis (nocturnal octopus species), and eels than do adult Hawaiian monk seals. Adult seals feed mostly on larger octopus species such as O. cyanea. Hawaiian monk seals have a broad and diverse diet due to foraging plasticity, which allows them to be opportunistic predators that feed on a wide variety of available prey. Tiger sharks, great white sharks, and Galapagos sharks are all predators of the Hawaiian monk seal. Mediterranean monk seals are diurnal and feed on a variety of fish and mollusks, primarily octopus, squid, and eels, up to per day. They are known